#anyhow thanks in advance to anyone who helps me out here!

[risquemargay]

help a linguistics student with his homework!

hello all, i need to create a small glossary of specialized vocabulary specific to a group for my linguistics homework and i decided my group would be tumblr users!

if you could reblog/comment/send me an ask/etc. with any words you think are tumblr-specific or that tumblr uses in a special/distinct way, it would be greatly appreciated

a brief explanation/definition would be appreciated but is not required (i can do that myself tbh)

thank :)

[anyamaris]

Another Us Pt 6

Word count-2200+

Summary-Just angsty plot, slow burn, au!Seonghwa x f!reader with au!ateez members as roommates/friends.

I'm basically just indulging my writing side and enjoying a silly story with some plot. My first time writing on here, so if you do read, thank you in advance and I hope you enjoy it!

Warnings-Vulgar language, alcohol consumption, implied violence, long winded rambling

Part 7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey....really....Y/n, you're scaring us. Seriously." Wooyoung was standing back, his arms crossed, glaring. They'd shoved you inside the apartment and San was currently trying to force ....drink? you. He was holding a cup of water and was trying to force it down your throat. You push him away with a sigh. "Stop! I'm fine, I said!" San huffs and slams the cup down on the table, making you jump.

"You didn't look fine, outside the door all in a heap!!!" He yells at you. "Shit, sorry Y/n. I'm sorry." He kneels down and pats your head. "Why do you always make me worry about you? Huh?" Wooyoung was doing big nods to back up San's statements and you couldn't help but burst out laughing. San glares back at Woo and the latter just shrugs at him. "Oh my god, really. I just got back from...my date...and well..." They both perk up, then San is frowning. "Wait, did he do something-"

You hold up your hand to stop them before they can run with it. "No no no, nothing bad at all. Actually, quite the opposite." you sigh, "You jerks! I seriously don't even know with you two, I'm so confused!" You pull your hair and put your hands in your face dramatically.

"Wait, how did we...oh yeah the dare!" Woo chirps and you nod, not taking your face from your hands. "So? It's still a date." San pipes up, petting you. "Yeah see, that's just it. I'd convinced myself that it wasn't actually a date. I mean, yeah it was but like...I don't even know. I guess I'd tried to keep the excitement down, you know?"

A door slams behind you and you hear voices coming in. San just keeps petting you, his lower lip pouted out, nodding along in overly dramatic understanding. "Mhm, I get it, you haven't gone out with anyone in a long time, Y/n. You're like, all dusty and dried up like-" You put your hand over his mouth before he can say anything else. "Ew stop, don't be mean." Woo is cackling behind him and you roll your eyes. "Anyhow, despite your long hiatus, how was it? Fun? Did you make out??" San rattling on when you hear the voices from the door come closer. "Who made out with whom now?" Mingi says, bouncing over and plopping down beside you. "Ohhh hoooo...!" You can hear Yunho and you cover your face again.

Just when you were actually thinking about how nice it was living with these guys, they remind you of how nosy they can be. "Oh stop, it's none of your business if I did or didn't make out with anyone. Can we not talk about my date....? Did you all eat? Can I make you something?" You latch onto the idea and bounce out of your chair, going about pulling out random things as they all protest behind you but not one of the denies being fed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finishing up the dishes after everyone has been fed, you find yourself soaking in a hot bubble bath. The guys had all decided to disperse and do their own thing, with San and Woo heading out to do god knows what. Mingi and Yunho wouldn't come barging in or cause a bunch of chaos this late, so you could actually relax completely and take in the days events.

Some low music playing, the lights dimmed and the floral scent of the bath water has your eyes hooded. Were you actually thinking of going on another date with Yeosang? You'd been so conflicted about everything that you'd torn your mindset in two trying to figure out how to act, so you weren't able to truly get a vibe from him all night. You were too concerned about being friendly and not thinking too much about romance.

Then he'd ended the night with that sweet kiss and a proclamation of interest in you.

Of course, you were curious and interested too. I mean, just the other day, you'd admitted in your mind that you've developed a crush on the quietly gorgeous man. And besides, it's not like Seonghwa was vying for your affections, despite-

Wait...why were you even thinking about him again? You pout and grunt, sliding your body down into the bubbles until just your eyes and nose were poking out. This would be a great opportunity to have some fun alone time too with yourself, but it was ruined because you had no idea who to fantasize about.

"WAHHHHHH! GRRRR!" you yell out and splash around in frustration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week had passed since you'd had your date and Yeosang and you had exchanged some very nice texts, but nothing about a follow up date yet. You figure he is likely waiting for you to make that decision, but between school and work, your life had been busy. He'd mentioned also having a very tight schedule so you weren't in any rush to push it at the moment.

Walking in the door after a particularly hectic day, you sigh and go into the kitchen without looking up at the antics coming from the living room. Probably some online gaming thing, you think, putting the few groceries away. "Hey, if anyone can hear me, should I make something or did you already eat?" you yell.

"Hmmm....whatcha cookin, sexy lady?" You hear as big arms wrap around you from behind and you're lifted off your feet with a squeal. You'd know that voice and that teasing tone anywhere.

"JONGHO!!!!!" You yell and immediately turn around and launch yourself into his arms for a big bear hug. He doesn't disappoint. "Hahaha, missed me, then?" You just grin and hug him again, then pull back to look at him. "Nah, not at all." You pretend and he smiles even bigger.

"Wooooah look at you, have you been working out?" You ask, squeezing his arms and sizing him up. It'd been almost a year since he'd gone off to study and train his vocals and you'd missed him dearly. A part of you felt finally complete with all of your closest friends nearby now. Not gonna cry, you think, smiling and squishing his cheeks.

"Just a little." He says and you both smile. "Well, crap. I didn't pick up anything special to cook, I had no idea you were coming back!" You yell, looking around. "Hm, we were thinking that we'd all go out and grab something, maybe have a few drinks to celebrate. What do you think, Y/n?" The rest of the guy had all come into the kitch. They are all nodding at you. You take in all five handsome faces.

Nothing sounds better as you smile at all your guys looking back at you. "I'd love nothing more!" You say and bounce off to get ready, their laughter following you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, Y/n, I heard that you went on a date finally?" Jongho asks as you bring your attention back towards him. You'd all gone to dinner and now you were walking into a bar/club of some sort that San and Wooyoung had begged everyone to go to. You'd think they'd be exhausted from all the dancing in the practice room, but there they were, running off to let off their endless amounts of energy.

"Yeah...." You sigh. "It's...complicated." His eyebrow raises at you. "Complicated? How so? Let it out on me, Y/n." You puff out a breath and look around. Yunho and Mingi had gone off to get drinks, San and Woo were off dancing. It was just you two.

Out of all the guys, Jongho was the more mature, even though he was slightly younger. He'd also been the most calm when it came to talking about issues, making you feel as if he were truly listening to you and understanding what you needed, and it really helped you through some of the rougher patches.

Making the choice to share since it was just the two of you, you let him in on the dare, the date, and how confused you'd felt since it'd been a long time. You didn't mention Seonghwa or those thoughts but you alluded to other factors giving you pause. Luckily, in Jongho fashion, he seemed to understand and didn't pry at all.

"So let me get this straight. Those idiots suckered you two into a date with each other, where you had a great time. But you're wary because you hadn't let yourself actually open yourself to the idea that the man, who you mentioned was attractive to you, was actually interested?" You nod. "And furthermore, he initiated contact with you, to back up that interest. And expressed a desire to see you again." You nod once again. "Hmm.." Patiently you wait for his thoughts. He made it all sound so simple.

"Well, you're definitely leaving something out but I am not going to ask. But whatever that thing is, it must be dealt with instead of buried... Y/n, I adore you and I'm saying this for your own good, ok?" He looks at you with care and you nod, listening intently. "We've been friends for a long time and I've personally seen the damage you can put yourself through just to punish yourself. I just want you to realize that you're allowed to be happy." You feel tears sting your eyes and you nod, looking down. He definitely got you so well. He tilts your head up by your chin and smiles at you. "Hey look though, I'm here now and I won't stand for you to say rude things about my friend, so be nice to yourself." You snort and you both laugh. "You're so cheesy."

"Yeah, yeah. But really, just go with it. See where it ends up, at the very least, maybe you'll have another friend to add to your collection of us handsome guys! But I think he's actually interested, from what you said. Guys don't normally end a date with skinship, let alone a kiss if they don't want to see you again romantically."

"Oh hey, drinks!" Jongho interjects, ending the conversation and you turn to greet the guys.

Only to be met with the dark eyes of Seonghwa standing with them, right behind you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why does it always seem like he's glaring at me? You think, sighing. He was the last person you wanted to see. Unconsciously, you grip onto Jongho's arm for support.

"Oh hey." You say, just trying to play off that you weren't just complaining about things to Jongho and you had no idea if he'd overheard. "Hey." He says right back, his eyes holding yours for a moment. "Oh Hwa, this is our friend Jongho, the one I told you about! He just got back, that's why we'd decided to come out. Glad you could come meet us!" Yunho chimes in, introducing the two. Jongho half notices you clinging to his arm but doesn't push you away.

You slowly let go and take a drink from Mingi, who puts an arm around you. "Good to be back together, huh Y/n?" He smiles down at you and you nod, smiling back. "Yeah, really nice. Why is he here?" You say out of the side of your mouth and Mingi's brows furrow. "Huh? Hwa? I dunno, we were all discussing something in our work chat group and mentioned a friend coming back and that we'd be out. We invited him, naturally. Why?" He asks and you shake your head. "Oh no reason, just curiosity!" You almost yell and take a large drink from your cup. "Oh...ok." He says, frowning then shrugging and moving on.

The night goes on, and you continue to drink, chatting with your friends and doing your best to avoid looking at Hwa for too long. You'd gotten a text from Yeosang earlier letting you know he was going to be gone for the next few days so your idea of inviting him out was squashed. Everyone had gotten into their own discussions about life abroad for Jongho, work related issues for Seonghwa and the others, San and Wooyoung bragging about their dancing and Woo proclaiming he'd found his true passion.

Watching everyone so involved in conversation, you decide to go get yourself another drink and take a few moments away from all of them. Coming out of the restroom, you stop and just collect your thoughts. "Woo, tipsy.." you think and shake your head. Making your way to the bar, you feel yourself getting into the beat of the music and ponder what cocktail you'd like to order yourself. While you wait for the bartender dealing with the crowd, you sway your hips along with the beat.

"Yeah baby, keep moving those hips, daddy like." you hear close behind you and a hand is touching your lower back, far too low for your liking. "Eh?" you say, turning too quickly and pulling away. "Oh c'mon honey, don't stop the show. I'm enjoying the view" he winks and you resist the urge to pop the guy right in the nose right then.

He's much taller than you but not very big. He just looks like one of those club crawling guys, far too much hair gel and teeth too big, like a predator. "Gross. No, go away." You say and turn back around, dismissing him. "Hey hey hey, now. You're up here lookin all pretty, dressed that way, swaying those plump little hips. Don't act like you don't want some attention, maybe a little more.... Lemme buy you a drink, baby."

Pretending to gag, you cover your mouth in a mocking way. "Oh dear, you're so cliche, I'm gonna puke." You roll your eyes at him and go back to ignoring him again. "Listen, bitch. I'm just tryin to be nice, tryin to give you some attention. You're not even that hot, all alone here at a club, looking for someone like me to get some drinks out of. Ain't I right?" His hand is back on your lower back. He sneers at you and it must be the drinking, the pawing at you or maybe just his words that are so disgusting that you can't help yourself. You spin back around and stomp directly on his foot with the heel of your shoe.

The satisfaction of his reaction, cursing and spitting in pain is slow lived as the bastard grabs you by the arm and hauls you towards him, fury in his eyes. "Fucking slut, you bitch, Ill--"

"The fuck you will! Get your fucking hands off of her!" You hear and Seonghwa's enraged face is behind the guy one moment, and the next, you're being pulled away and turned towards someone's chest. "Hey, Y/n, how's it going? You ok? Let's get you a drink, nothing going on behind us, nothing at all." You look up at Yunho and he's not even looking at you, glaring over your head. He turns and waves the bartender over, ordering you something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seonghwa watches you walk away, frowning at the little bit of swaying you're doing. You seemed to be more drunk that you were the other night at the party. He wasn't sure about your tolerance but you'd seemed to be able to hold your alcohol well that night. Tonight you weren't even looking at him or talking much.

He'd heard something about a kiss and then you latching onto the new guy, Jongho. Unsure why he felt so irritated yet again in your presence, he just shakes it off and goes back to the conversation.

"Hey, where's Y/n?" Wooyoung asks, him and San having finally come to chill out and hang with everyone. "She walked off a bit ago, probably bathroom." Yunho says and Mingi stands up, looking around over everyone's heads. Seonghwa's eyes are drawn to where Mingi was looking as he says, "Ah there she is. Too far away to call," then he frowns and yells "YAH! Fuck, Y/N! No no no, don't-" as he notices the guy pawing at you and your gestures conveying all that needed to be known.

Seonghwa is already on his feet and moving before Mingi can yell your name, Yunho right behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Trash." San says, Woo echoing him, "Total trash." You were back at the table, nursing your drink and rolling your eyes at them. "Oh c'mon, I could have TOTALLY handled myself, did you see me?" You flex and giggle, taking another sip.

"Yeah, you handled it well alright," Mingi frowns at you, trying to grab the drink from you. "She's drunk, just ....Y/n...stay at the table huh? What's gotten into you? You don't normally drink like this." Yunho asks, worried. "Ha! Not drunk!" You exclaim and smile, "I can outdrink any of you!" You chug the drink in your hand before Mingi gets the glass from you. "Oh boy. Anyhow, where did the other two go?" Mingi asks and looks around.

"Sorry guys, had to take out some trash." Jongho says and plops back down, Seonghwa behind, his face clouded. San grabs Jongho's hands to study them, then Seonghwa, who looks at him confused.

"Is he alive then?" He asks and Jongho just smiles. "We had a nice talk with him in the men's room then I hauled him to the bouncers. He's gone." Everyone glances back and forth at the two men, then at you. You're just swaying along to music and humming, smiling at everyone.

"You're so much trouble, Y/n!" Wooyoung throws his arm around you and laughs. "I LOVE YOU TOO, WOOWOO." You yell and kiss his cheek, drawing a peal of laughter from San. You turn towards the laughing man and grab him to kiss his cheek as well, before exclaiming loudly, "MY SANNIE BOY, I LOVES YOU!"

"Yeah, total trouble. Let's get her home." Jongho says.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thump thump thump.

"uhhh.....stop....making the noise." you murmur into your pillow, annoyed.

Thump thump thump thump......

Your eyes slowly open and you realize the noise is in your head, rhythmically throbbing. "Ew, hangover." You mutter and pull the blankets over your head. What time was it?

Peeking at your phone with one eye, you see the time is 09:42am. Ewww too early.....

After trying to close your eyes for a bit to see if you can get anymore sleep, you give up and pull your aching body from the covers. Stumbling out to the bathroom, you walk in and wash your face off, then brushing your teeth. Definitely needed some Tylenol.

Walking out into the kitchen, eyes still half closed, you grab water and guzzle it, suddenly realizing how parched you are. "Thirsty?" You hear over your shoulder and almost spit out the water, knowing the voice immediately.

Seonghwa is standing there in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. His hair is mussed and he has sleepy eyes. And he's taking your appearance in as well. Then you realize. You're standing in your kitchen, wearing just an oversized tshirt, a pair of fluffy socks and not much else.

Before you can even think of what to say or how to escape or even how fucking embarrassing this is he blurts out:

"So are you still in love with me or do you hate me? You couldn't seem to decide last night."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@shinestarhwaa @veronicasawyerschainsaw

[oh-my-front-door]

I posted 321 times in 2022

That's 321 more posts than 2021!

25 posts created (8%)

296 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@oh-my-front-door

@powerofelvis

@bisexualwvtson

@burninlovebutler

@troubleinapinksuit

I tagged 95 of my posts in 2022

#austin butler elvis - 19 posts

#austin butler - 15 posts

#elvis - 12 posts

#elvis movie 2022 - 8 posts

#elvis 2022 - 5 posts

#spotify wrapped - 5 posts

#elvis the pelvis - 4 posts

#help - 3 posts

#love the energy - 2 posts

#this is everything - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 81 characters

#i just call it 'pot' because that's what everyone screams at you when make a bet

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

hey hey hey

here's just a bit of what i'm working on:

'I fiddled with a pen while my head rested in my right hand, waiting for a customer to come through the door. I had eventually zoned out because, I almost fell off the stool i was using, when the door bell went off. Trying to steady both my body and my mildly racing heart, I check to see who may may have startled me like that. I became more startled seeing who exactly came in causing this slight commotion on my end. It was blue eyes. He looked just as last as the last time, if not more. His hair was mostly slicked back but one tiny little piece fighting to fall forward. Same beige slacks but this time... My lord- this time, He had a black lace button up with most of them undone. It left his bare chest beneath the shirt in almost full view. "Nothing for the imaginatioin, eh" i almost muttered aloud while trying to steady my heaving breath. "why'd you scare me like that? i just 'bout fell off my chair, thanks to you." He leaned over the counter on forearms. "Nothing like hello huh" he cracked a smile. I paused trying not to stare at his bare torso staring me back dead in the face. His smile grew a bit wider as he leaned over a bit more, enough that our noses barely touched. I let out a soft 'yes' which may have come off as a moan. "uh..." fumbling over his words, "c-can we talk?" I nodded still trying to avoid his deliciously tempting form. I peered over his shoulder to see who was available to cover the front. Luckily both Meilin and Christina (one of the trainees from the Philipines) were heading towards the desk with trays in tow.'

I haven't quite came up with a name yet. If anyone has some critics/suggestions please i would greatly appreciate it. This my first time writing fictioin since highschool and that was almost ten years ago! So mind you I am super rusty but, it's like riding a bike, right? It's a skill you never really lose.

Anywho, i really want to do moodboards, playlists and such. Does anyone know any user friendly programs for that?

Anyhow, I almost have enough for a chapter. just a bit more and Voila! also, i haven't decided on chapters or parts... Right now i'm just trying to make myself coherent.

4 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

#4

I'm stuck at home tomorrow prepping. I gotta get a colonoscopy done Monday. Can anyone recommend me some good reads? Or even blogs to spam. I'll tag my interests down below.

Bless you all in advance!

4 notes - Posted September 17, 2022

#3

Gobble Gobble

hello hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far and to my American friends, "Happy turkey day". I might be going to Golden Corral on thursday with Mum. We're playing it by ear.

Universal has been a blast but, also highly overwhelming. My autistic ass hasn't stopped "processing" in three days and with my mum being disabled and using a scooter..... it's like tending to evil kinevil and a toddler all at the same time. I highly recommend having some good coping mechanisms when you want the best experience possible. Theme parks are fun but, triggering. wether we like it or not. There is so so so much to take in and the crowds. Like, I'm not overly great with crowds and when people touch me, i get the heeby geebies. Though it hasn't bothered me much because i'm distracted from the attractions.

Even so.....

I've enjoyed myself. I've gotten to fulfill some interests i've had for a while now. And One thing that has helped me alot; is to make lists. Wether it's mental or physical. It keeps me on track of what i do want and what i don't what out of this trip. Then, when my list is done... I've been considering what can be done each day. Also, my mum has been really quite accomadating with me. Even when she's sped up past me asking if she's going to fast. Meanwhile, i'm jogging beside like it's a marathon. I thought at point we were going to get kicked out the stores. She decided to zoom around the stores and took out a couple of displays. fun.

DON'T WHY I TOLD YOU ALL THIS BUT.....

I hoping to get some writing done. I can't focus with all the excitement. oh well... but..... It has given me some great ideas for scenarios with Austin. They're gonna be so cute! Can't wait to get home and jot them down!

I hope everyone has a good rest of the week! Stay happy, Healthy and safe!

4 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

#2

Watch "Fever - Elvis Presley, Michael Bublé & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra" on YouTube

@jupiteraart you're welcome

8 notes - Posted October 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

All I want in life is for Austin Butler/Elvis to spank me and tell me what a dirty girl I've been. Is that too much to ask?

12 notes - Posted November 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

Ha! I've put a new meaning on my own number 1 fan

[miscellaneous-bnha]

A little “Christmas Magic”

Kirishima x Fem!Reader x Denki

This is my piece for @lemonlordleah-shinzawa-kitten’s Citrus Dome “Snowed In” Collab.

Link to the Collab: https://tomurasprincess.tumblr.com/post/637531853698547712/citrus-dome-server-snowed-in-collab

Warning: slightly Scumbag Kiri/Denki, dubious consent (at the start), Possessive/FeralDenki, Smug Kiri, some exhibitionism, lowkey yandere Denki if you squint, dumbification, a little tongue pulling, light cum play

Also, I write Denki as someone who pretends to be stupid but is actually extremely intelligent.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE AGED UP

Being childhood friends with Denki had it’s perks; knowing how intelligent your best friend is compared to how stupid he likes to act is one of them, so you knew that it was no accident he kept you distracted long enough for the blizzard to roll in.

Effectively trapping you in his home with his roommate Kirishima.

“Aww come on! It’s not that terrible! We’ve got good heating, enough food n’ snacks. The world’s BEST portable charger,” he points to himself dramatically, “And, if you do get bored of me, Kirishima’s here too.”

“You say that like you were planning on excluding me from your plans.” Kirishima looks at his roommate unimpressed. You stifle a giggle.

“Even if he was, I wouldn’t let him.” You nudge the redhead with your shoulder, making him snort a laugh.

“Fair enough.”

“So you agree it’s not that bad?” Denki bats his eyes at you, causing you to push his face away with a scoff.

“Alright alright. It could be worse.” He grins.

“I’m glad you agree!”

The three of you spend the night talking about the latest games the three of you have been following. They had both just convinced you to download a multiplayer rpg when the power suddenly went out, leaving you all in the dark.

“Oof, unlucky. I guess even state of the art homes still get black outs.” You mutter.

“More likely than you think. Here, why not get closer before the temperature starts to drop.” Kiri offers.

“Sure, why not. I’ll be thankful for it later anyhow.” You sandwich yourself between Denki and Kiri laying on your back as the three of you bundled together.

“Everyone’s phones charged up?” Denki peeks at your phone, still going strong at 95%

“Yeah, it should be good for a while longer. Anyone up for some music?”

For the next 3 hours, you continue to talk until you find yourself growing sleepy. Comfortably warm, you can’t help the way your eyes slip close.

————

When you wake up again, you can still hear the wind whipping around outside. You grab your phone only to be met with the no battery signal. Both boys on either side of you completely knocked out.

You tsk at your own stupidity. ‘I should have turned it off when I realized I was getting sleepy.’ You thought to yourself, leaning over Denki to use his phone to check the time.

The numbers 9:27am stared back at you. Just as you move to settle back into your spot, Denki’s arms suddenly wrap around you.

“Mm… five more minutes…” the angle at which he grabbed you made it so you were lying on top of him, your legs straddling his hips.

“Uhm… Denks…” you try to shake him gently.

“Noooo… jus’ five mmm….” he starts to snore softly again, and you’re left stuck on him.

You sigh, accepting your fate. With your phone dead, you decide whether or not you should stick the charger into his mouth and plug your phone in or if you should just go back to sleep. Unfortunately, with how restless you felt, sleeping wasn’t an option, and you’d feel pretty guilty for disturbing him from what must be a good dream.

A really good dream.

Your face erupts into flames when you realize there’s something hard poking at you. The blush darkens when he groans and his hips jerk up to grind against you.

You would be lying if you said you weren’t ever attracted to your childhood friend; blonde hair, golden eyes, killer smile. You saw how popular he was back then, and you can see it in his hero ratings now. Even aside from his looks, his goofy, lovable, secretly intelligent nature made it impossible not to fall for him all those years ago.

But you also knew he tended to be a flirt, which made it hard to tell if he was genuine. Especially since his advances were never directed at you.

Wishful thinking made it easy to believe that he didn’t flirt with you because “he didn’t want to think the one person he cares the most about to think he was playing with them”, but reason told you otherwise.

You’ve met some of his exes, and none of them were like you.

So, in the friendzone you stayed. ‘Better than nothing’, you reason, and— much to your own surprise— you’re satisfied with that.

You shake your head and squirm. “Denki…! Wake up you idiot!” He snorts when you headbutt his chest, head sitting up as he let you go to rub at the spot you hit.

“Awww… I was having a good dream…”

“I’m sure you were!” You spit, embarrassed.

You make an attempt to hide it. “Also, I need a favor, my phone died while we were sleeping.”

“Ah, yeah. I tried turning your music off, but I guess that didn’t work.” You hum, but nod.

“Thanks for trying. Mind charging it for me?”

He taps a finger to his chin, pretending to think about it before he grins. “Sure, but it’ll cost ya.” You snort.

“Ha ha. What do I owe?”

“A kiss.” You roll your eyes. Even as a kid, Denki always liked to say stuff like that.

You lean down and press a kiss to his cheek.

“There, your kiss. Now can you charge my phone?” You have to bite your tongue to hold back a yelp when you’re suddenly flipped over on your back, Denki hovering over you.

“You can do better than that!” He grins when you snort.

“Oh really now?” You plant another, wetter, kiss to his cheek with a smack. “And is that good enough for you?”

“Nope.”

“Oh come on!” You whisper-yell, fake exasperated, “I give! What more could you possibly want??”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes!”

He pauses, eyes watching you for a moment before suddenly his lips are on yours. One hand cupping your jaw, thumb circling the underside of your chin, the other bracing himself over you.

You don’t expect it, nor do you expect the way he deepens the kiss so effortlessly even while you’re still floundering for steady ground. He almost seems to be intent on trying to keep you stumbling.

You gasp and pant when he parts from your lips with a wet smack; head foggy with confusion, you don’t have any time before his lips are back on yours, smothering you into another blissful, naïve cloud.

You whine when the hand cupping your jaw trails down slowly, fingers intertwining with yours and giving a gentle squeeze, bringing it above your head to pin it there.

“W-Wait!” You gasp, trying to come back down to reality, still not believing what’s happening.

“No.” He nips the side of your neck, making you groan softly, “Waited long enough.”

“Wh- what do you mean??” You don’t get your answer. Instead, he presses more hot kisses to your lips, each accompanied with a soft smack.

“Denki—!” You hiss through your teeth when he bites down on your neck again, harder this time. He covers your mouth with one hand, hushing softly.

“Waited too long for this. Should’ve just said something a long time ago.” His breath is hot against your ear, making you squirm when his teeth nibble on the lobe. “Should’ve told you how I feel ages ago.”

You can’t help the excited thumping of your heart, especially if his words mean what you hope they do. You gasp when you feel his hard on grind against you, sound stolen from you when Denki presses another deep kiss to your lips.

“Fuck, need you. Need you so fucking bad.” He borderline growls as his free hand disappears below the blanket covering the both of you. You’re just about to let the haze overcome you when you suddenly hear Kirishima snort from next to you, making your blood freeze.

“Denki..! Kirishima’s right there—!” He groans burying his face in your neck.

“Fuck..! I know! ‘S fine!” He flips you both again so that you’re on top, tugging at the pair of sweatpants you borrowed and your panties.

“We can’t!” He bucks his hips into yours, making you inhale sharply. He tugs you down so your chest is pressed to his. You can feel the way his heart is pounding through your thin shirts.

“For fuck’s sake, please, baby girl. I can’t. I can’t wait anymore.” He groans into your ear, hands pinning your hips to his, moving you to grind against him.

“But Kirishima—!”

“Kirishima—” He growls his roommate’s name with disdain, making you shudder with fear and arousal, “— won’t know if you stay quiet.” He hisses when he finally manages to slide the sweatpants off of you, bare cock nudging against your panty-clad pussy.

“Please. I need you so fucking bad it hurts. I will combust if I can’t fuck you right fucking now.” You shiver when you feel his fingers pull the crotch of your underwear to the side, fingers sliding through your slick and circling your clit.

“Okay, okay okay okay— wait!” You bite your lip when he shoves his leaking cock into you, growling into your shoulder.

“Fuck, fuck fuckfuckfuckfuck…” he groaned, hips fucking up into you with soft ‘paps’

“Den—ki!” You whine, grinding down on his cock as much as he would let you.

“That’s it, baby…. jus’ keep sayin’ m’ name.”

“Or maybe mine.”

The shock of hearing Kirishima’s voice right by your ear has you clamping down on Denki’s cock, sending you over the edge when he thrusts roughly into you.

“Kiri—“ Denki slaps a hand over your mouth, cutting you off.

“Seriously?” Denki growls, pissed. He doesn’t pull out though, opting to fuck into you still,

“Aww, come on. I’m not the one breaking promises around here, Denki. Don’t get a little salty because I wanted to join in on the fun.” You shudder and moan, overstimulated.

It’s hard to focus on the conversation as yet another orgasm builds. You can barely focus on the fact that you just got caught fucking your childhood friend by his roommate, at least until two hands grab you by your shoulders and pull you against a firm chest.

“Kirishima! Wh—” You whine when one arm wraps around your neck, not squeezing, but keeping you pinned to his chest, the other pinching and pulling at your nipple,

“Kaminari here can’t keep a promise, so I’m just having some fun touching you.” He laughs, seemingly unbothered. Then he whispers into your ear,

“But don’t worry; I’ll give it to you later.” You squeeze and clench around Denki’s cock at the sound of that.

Kirishima’s hand trails down your body, leading a trail of goosebumps until his fingers pinch and tug at your clit. He activates his quirk, the rough sensation of his hardened fingers add to your pleasure until you’re creaming on Denki’s cock all over again. You whine, trying to pull away from the stimulation, but Kiri just holds you there, letting Denki rut up into you until he’s cumming, hissing through his teeth until he can’t bring himself to pull out anymore.

You’re vaguely aware of the fact that he isn’t wearing a condom, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t have time to as you feel yourself falling asleep again.

————

When you wake up, you’re cuddled in Kirishima’s arms. He gives you a bright, toothy smile when he notices your eyes opening.

“Well good morning, sleeping beauty! Well, good afternoon now.” You groan, feeling a little sore.

“What time is it?”

“About 2pm. You didn’t actually sleep that long.” You grunt.

“Where’s Denki?”

“Grabbing some snacks together. Your phone finished charging, by the way.

He presses the device into your hands and you stare at it owlishly until your brain catches up with your body.

“Ah, thanks.”

“Sure thing.”

You set it off to the side, sitting up and stretching. Your face twists when you feel something leaking out of you.

“Ugh.. I should go and get cleaned up… well, as much as I can anyway.” You throw the blanket to the side, but you don’t have the opportunity to stand before Kirishima’s hands are on your hips.

“About what I said earlier…” he murmurs softly. It takes you a moment, but you blush when you finally remember.

“Wh-what about it?”

“Do you mind?” He squeezes his hands gently.

You chew your lip. Everything considered, he’d watched and helped Denki fuck you, and you certainly were curious…

“... alright, why not?” Kirishima grins before patting his lap, pushing his shorts and boxers down. Your eyes widen when his cock stands,

“Have you been hard this whole time??” As smug as he’d been acting earlier, he seemed to get a little shy at your question

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“You were!” He sputters, but pulls you into his lap.

“Look, of course I’m going to be hard.” He teases the sharp points of his teeth against your neck,

“Thinking about all those noises you made, the way you looked on his cock…” he growls playfully, biting down on your shoulder until you whine softly.

“Shit... just hurry up then!” You grumble, giving his cock a couple of good strokes.

He flips you around so your back is against his chest again, slowly sinking you down on his cock as you both groan.

“Christ... I see why he wasn’t keen on sharing.” Kiri raises you by the hips, slamming you back down on his cock with a hiss,

“So fucking tight baby girl…” he groans as you whine, falling back against his chest. Your body shakes with his laughter.

“Awww… already stupid from my cock stuffing your tight little hole?” He groans, but you can feel the way he grins against your neck,

“That’s alright, baby. I’ll take care of ya.”

Your whines and moans do eventually attract Denki, pulling him away from his task. He scowls at Kirishima, who only continues to lazily bounce you on his cock.

“You could have at least waited until I came back.”

“And miss a chance at fucking her cute little pussy? I don’t think so.” You whine when Kiri forces your hips to still, instead rotating your hips so his cock grinds deep inside.

You feel Denki grip your jaw with one hand, the fingers on his other hand slipping inside your mouth. You yelp when you feel him pinch your tongue, tugging it out and forcing you to tilt your head up to look at him.

“You’ve always had such a pretty little mouth too…” Denki says more to himself than to you, letting go of your tongue in favor of tugging his cock out of his sweatpants.

“Mind if I use it?”

He taps the tip of it against your tongue, groaning a soft “good girl” when you suck on it, only for you to choke when he pushes more of his length into your mouth.

“Hey, take it easy man.” Kiri starts to bounce you on his cock again, making you moan with each drop of your hips. Denki grunts, cupping your cheeks with his hands,

“She’ll be alright, won’t you baby?” You whine softly, too busy focusing on the rising heat in your core.

“Either way, I don’t think she’s coherent enough to even notice if my balls smack against her chin.” Denki says as he snaps his hips forward again, making you gag.

“Well… don’t make her sick.”

“She’ll be fine.”

You moan and gag with every drop and rise of your hips respectfully. In some ways, Denki was right when he said you’d hardly notice him shoving his cock down your throat; come later, it’ll be sore as hell, but for now, it added to the curling pleasure that only seemed to build the more roughly they treated you.

You feel Kirishima reach forward to pinch a nipple, making you gag out a yelp around Denki’s cock. Both of them hiss in unison.

“Shit, I think she liked that.” Kirishima gives it another painful tug, causing you to whine and your cunny to flutter.

“Fuck.. keep doing that.” Denki groans out, forgetting completely about your comfort for a moment when he shoves his dick all the way down your throat, making you choke when Kirishima buries himself balls deep.

You feel like your head is floating aimlessly by the time they start to lose control. Between Kiri’s thick, heavy cock splitting you open and Denki fucking your face, your eyes roll back as you cum hard, whining and moaning through your choked noises.

“Fuuuuuck, that’s it baby! Just tighten up like that!” Kirishima growls as he abandons your nipple, opting to rub your clit instead to keep you cumming.

Denki hisses and pulls his cock out of your mouth, instead leaving the tip on your tongue as he strokes himself to completion.

Both men are loud when they cum, and you can only whine when you feel your body turn to gelatin again.

You grimace when Denki pushes his cum around on your tongue, only removing his finger when he’s satisfied with the look of it. “Swallow for me, yeah?” He pets your cheek when you comply, smiling in satisfaction.

You can feel Kirishima’s cum leak out of you the second he pulls out. He lets out a low whistle, lightly patting your ass. “What a sight to behold.”

You flop back against Kirishima’s chest, groaning softly. “Now can I get cleaned up?”

“Of course. Just give us a sec, yeah?”

“Or you could just stay like this for-“

“No thank you, Denki.”

“Party pooper.”

[logan-is-noggin]

Anxious Beauty part 2

word count: 2566

warning: play fighting

the years passed and the three fairies raised Prince Virgil, who they affectionately nicknamed storm cloud, or just cloud for short, in an unassuming cottage in the nearby forest.

Now that the Prince was four, on cool nights like tonight, they left the tots bedroom window open to allow the sweet smell of the peach trees that grew outside to flow inside.

Logan's faithful raven companion croft, landed on a branch outside the open window. When his master had no use of him. Croft often found himself observing the object Logan seemed so fascinated by. But tonight he had a mission to finish. The bird hopped to the windowsill and peered inside.

Cloud rolled over in his crib and blinked his eyes open, hearing the creaking nearby. When he saw his bird friend he shaking stood on his bed and reached for him. But croft flew inside, in a loop, dropping what he carried in his beak before flying out the window and away.

Cloud looked down and saw what the bird had left. A dark old fashion key. In the handle was a purple jewel in the shape of a heart.

The next morning when Patton saw Virgil with the key, he was puzzled. He didn't recall the king giving it to his son when they departed, the others also denied giving it to the Prince. Patton reached to take it away, but once he did, the toddler let out a loud wail. Patton quickly gave it back. " okay, you can keep it." Since that day, cloud always had the key with him or else he was very upset. As he grew up he played in the woods like any child. For a time, the curse was forgotten.

"okay Roman that's all for tonight, it's getting late kiddo."

He took the bowl from the Prince and set it in the sink, he would wash it in the morning. "You can't stop there padre, I haven't even burst onto the scene yet."

"He can continue the story tomorrow Roman, we're filming with Thomas tomorrow remember? We each need to be rested for our performance, we don't need you yawning while the cameras on." Logan chided as he walked up to his room.

The next day every could see how impatient Roman was being, he groaned any time anyone messed up their lines, which made Virgil start messing up on purpose.

That night at dinner Roman are twice as fast as usual when Patton placed the dishes in the sink Logan sighed as said " I can clean up tonight Patton." Roman smiled and practically yanked Patton out of the kitchen "thanks teach!" He called.

Roman sat cross legged as Patton stood before him.

"Alright let me remember where we were..."

Twelve years passed and cloud grew into a fine young man. That morning the three seemed to be trying to get him out of the house. " why don't you go play outside, maybe go for a swim? It's a lovely warm day out." Patton encouraged. Cloud nodded as he slipped on his gray vest over his white long sleeve shirt. Leaving the top button undone. Cloud opened the Dutch door of the cottage and waved goodbye to the three. " have fun. Don't go too far, but don't come back too quickly.." The three called out over each other. Cloud stood his head as he walked off. He could tell when they were trying to hide something. And the lad was always kind enough to play along with their surprises.

The forest was empty today, only filled with the sounds of the forest animals, it was alright, Virgil had perfected how to entertain himself.

Cloud walked between trees swinging himself forward to grab the next trunk. Walking across a fallen tree with his arms out to steady himself. He unlocked his boots and walked through the river, he scooped up a smooth stone and tossed it, the rock skipping thrice before sinking to the bottom. He picked up a stick and swung it around, pretending to fight an invisible foe. His parents often were over cautious when it came to raising him, not letting him eat fruit right off the tree near his home, though he sneaked berries from bushes when he was in the woods. Only remus let him get away with things the others found dangerous, like fighting. " come on you two! He's gonna have to learn to fight eventually if he's going to be king." Remus whispered one afternoon. So they relented and let Virgil have supervised battles with remus.

Not paying attention as he swung his stick-sword, cloud had begun to sing.

" I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music do ya?

It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift, the baffled king composing hallelujah"

Prince Roman and his hunting party were riding back after an uneventful morning, he could tell his mare rose was thirsty having not been watered since they left so he told the rest to go on without him as he slowly rode into the woods. The canopy from the treetops immediately cooled Roman from the sun. Once his eyes adjusted he led rose to the small pond they often visited when he first got her.

As she drank Roman sat on a stone to rest himself, he refilled his canteen and took a sip when he heard a noise. He shot up, hand on his sheathed sword just in case of danger. After listening he realized the sound was singing. Even from this distance Roman was spellbound. He had never heard a sweeter tenor in his life.

" hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

he took hold of his horses bridle and walked towards the noise of the voice. He found boy alone through the trees in the clearing. He held a stick and looked like he was fencing something Roman could not see. Roman smirked and found his own falls. Branch, not wanting to scare the boy away by using his real sword.

(Vpov)

Suddenly someone burst out of the trees and stood three feet away. He called to challenge him. Usually cloud would run from the stranger but seeing that he also wielded a stick let him know he was also playing.

The two slowly circled each other, Virgil tried to remember Remus's lecture on strategies but he almost always tangent off into talking about wounds. So he decided to try and copy the man. When he advanced, Virgil tried to stay swords distance away. When He swung Virgil brought his up and they hit with a deafening whack. Virgil did the same but his opponent ducked before it could make contact. More jabs were taken and all too soon cloud was backed against a tree with the "sword" to his throat.

" Not much for training, but a decent fight anyhow." He said as he tossed his stick to the side.

" well, my um, parents don't like me fighting a lot. They're worried I could get hurt." Cloud mumbled.

Roman waved him off " nonsense. Every man should learn the art of dueling, if the need arose to save a bachelor or damsel in distress." He said proudly.

" ill make note of that."

" how rude of me. My name is Roman." He said as he brushed back his red cape.

Virgil mildly panicked at what to do. He wasn't sure if it was right to tell his name to a stranger.

" you can call me cloud. It's what my parents call me."

" intriguing." A high shinny made Virgil flinch. Roman saw his fear and placed a hand on his shoulder. " fear not. That is just rose. I almost forgot I left her in the brushes." He whistled with two gloved fingers in his mouth and suddenly a white mare with a rose gold mane leapt through the opening and trotted to her owners side. " this is my rose. The best and most beautiful mare in the entire kingdom, in my humble opinion."

"Very humble.." Cloud teased. Roman rolled his eyes. " would you like to go for a ride?" He said, holding his hand out. Cloud glanced around wondering what Patton would say if he were here. He had never ridden a horse before. " I guess so." Roman quickly mounted then reached down to help cloud onto the space behind him. " I'm not gonna fall am I?"

" just hold onto me. Ill keep you safe."

First they walked down the path, Roman making sure Virgil was feeling secure before he clicked at the horse who sped up galloping throughout the trees. Roman laughed as clouds grip around his waist tightened. She slowed to a stop at the edge of the forest in a clearing. They both dismounted and cloud wrapped his arms around him. " I suppose ill think twice about riding a strangers horse." Roman laughed again. They walked a ways until they reached a spot cloud knew well. A tree had fallen years ago but continued to grew horizontally, making the perfect sitting spot. They rested as they watched their surroundings.

" ave you ever watched the sunrise from here cloud? That is truly a magical experience."

" no, but I have a fair view from my home. We can see the village and the castle well."

Roman hopped down and tugged cloud along with him. " what are we doing now?"

" since your fighting skills are pretty dismal, I assume you don't know how to dance either. So I'm going to teach you."

Cloud rolled his eyes but took Romans hand anyway. He pulled the young man close, their chests almost touching. Romans left hand rested around his side and clasped his right hand with his own. Suddenly they seemed to be sucked up into a whirlwind. Half the time, cloud tried to mirror Romans expert steps as they turned in time. The other half he couldn't stop staring into Romans eyes. Could this be what love felt like?

They continued twirling around the forest to their silent symphony until they were both out of breath. They slowed to a stop and their hands fell to their sides but still connected.

" you're quite light on your feet cloud. A plus to both dancing a dueling. But practice makes perfect."

Cloud was still in a daze that he couldn't come up with a snarky comment. " I need to return to my father in town. But may I visit you again, possibly tomorrow?"

Cloud shook himself free " of course. My cottage is close to the field where we met. You can meet my parents."

Roman bent and kissed both of his hands. " I will spend every moment missing you until then, my cloud."

Cloud watched as Roman mounted his horse, after opting out of a ride home, he still wasn't used to riding. And stood there until he disappeared into the trees.

Cloud returned home, he stopped at the door, hearing whispers and shushing from the other side. He wondered what his three guardians had been up to in his absence. He pushed open the Dutch doors calling to the quiet house.

" hey guys I'm home. I-" he paused as he closed the door. Something was different. Laying spread out on a chair was a very fancy looking outfit. It was a pair of black trousers, a purple vest and white shirt. Hanging behind it was a deep purple cape with black stitching around the borders.

Next to it was a small cake, he could tell it was BlackBerry- his favorite.

Cloud jumped back as the three fairies all yelled surprise from their place in the kitchen. They came forward to embrace the boy. Cloud had completely forgotten about his birthday. " what have you done?" He said happily appraising the material of the clothes. Certainly the fabric was not cheap.

" it's your sixteenth birthday and we knew we needed to do something extra special." Janus said.

Patton smiled sadly as he pulled out a second chair to have him sit. " Cloud- I mean Virgil, we also did all this because there's something we need to tell you."

Now he was concerned. They usually didn't call him Virgil unless it was very serious. " alright, what is it?"

" well kiddo, what I'm about to say may come as a surprise. It's not the kind of thing one hears every day, and I suppose we should have told you a bit sooner but we wanted..."

" YOU'RE A PRINCE!" Remus blurted out from behind them. The other two whipped their heads to glare at him.

" crashed that carriage, didn't we Remus?" Janus said

" blue was rambling. Better to just rip it off like a wound dressing!" Everyone including Virgil groaned at that imagery.

" wait, so I'm a Prince." He said as if testing the words on his lips.

" yes. You are the only son and heir of his majesty, king Thomas. I know this is all a lot to take in."

Virgil looked back to the outfit. It's grand appearance suddenly making sense. He shook his head laughing to himself " I wonder how he'll take that News"

"Wonder how who'll take that news?" The fairies all asked.

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck." Oh, well, a man happened through the forest where I was, I was practicing my fighting, but only with a stick. He jumps out of the bushes and wants to duel. But he was just playing" now Virgil was rambling trying to push his innocence.

"What else did you do?" Patton asked cautiously.

" He took me on a ride through the woods on his horse, we talked a lot. He also taught me to dance. We spun so much that I'm still a little dizzy" he said with a smile. " he's coming back tomorrow."

Patton recognized the look Virgil had. He had definitely fallen in love with him. Which would make this next part of the conversation harder.

" Virgil..Unfortunately we won't be here after today. We promised to we would bring you back to the castle tonight."

Virgil was upset. " are you sure we couldn't wait until tomorrow so I could explain to him. I'm sure he mind me being a Prince." Janus stepped forward " son, I'm afraid that's not possible. you see A part of being a Prince is that when you were born, you were also betrothed to another Prince from an allied kingdom, Prince-"

Now Virgil was mad " I don't care what his name is. How could anyone force or even expect anyone, let alone a Prince to marry someone they've never met!"

Remus lightly placed his hand on his arm " now cloud-"

Virgil shook him off. " no! You don't get to call me that anymore. You keep this information from me my whole life. Then expect me to be okay with this. I don't know the first thing about being a Prince. I don't want to go." Tears streamed down his cheeks as he fled from the room. Patton Janus and Remus stood around wondering what to do to help their Prince.

PART 3:

[x-files-imagines]

Love, Requited

Request: Could you do a Mulder x reader where they're trying to catch something like in Stretch (Eugene Rooms) and the reader almost gets killed because she and Scully decided she would be bait. Maybe the bad guy has her cornered when Mulder saves her, and later he's yelling at her and Scully when he accidentally reveals he likes reader. Sorry if that's too specific! You're a really great writer by the way.

Summary: Scully and Reader hatch a plan behind Mulder’s back to catch a man who uses fog to suffocate his victims. Mulder does not take to it well.

Pairing: Mulder x (f) Reader

Warnings: angst, some violence, mild snogging

Word Count: 2,041

A/n: I hope that this was what you’re looking for, Anon! Thank you for the kind words and, of course, the request itself; it was fun crafting this Tooms-esque monster. Anyhow, for my other readers, I hope you guys also enjoy!

“Are you sure about this?” Scully quirked an eyebrow as she handed Y/n the harness to be used for a quick getaway. Y/n hesitated, but firmly nodded her head, slipping into the harness.

“He seems to have taken a particular liking to me. I think he’s most likely to fall for the trap if I’m the one,” Y/n replied, trying to keep her shaking hands still. Nick Wilson, or, as Mulder and Y/n had come to refer to him, Mist, had made the young agent his latest target, and she and Scully decided to lay out a trail for the suffocating monster to follow, which would ultimately lead to his capture.

“I still don’t understand how he does it,” Scully said. She glanced out into the empty street. The two agents were standing in the shadows of a shop front, waiting for Mist to emerge from his apartment in the building across the street. “How an ordinary man can asphyxiate his victims without laying a single finger on them. The use of noxious gases would explain it, if it weren’t for the fact that all of the coroner’s reports found no traces of harmful substances in the victims.”

Y/n pursed her lips, electing not to reply. Scully knew that she sided with Mulder on this particular case; now was not the time for more debate. Instead, she fiddled with the buckles and straps of the harness, adjusting the fit and hoping that this plan she and Scully crafted would work. It was a little crazy, and both of the agents chose not to fill Mulder in on it because he would have adamantly opposed the idea of putting either one of his partners in such direct harm’s way. But it was true that Mist seemed to have singled out Y/n as his next victim, and any other person in her place would result in a failed operation.

“Let’s go over the plan one more time,” Y/n said, wanting to stay focused on the present. Scully sensed her unease and reached over to give her arm a quick squeeze. She went over the details once more while Y/n tried to adjust her sweater so that it covered the harness.

A brief silence passed between the two of them, until Scully tugged Y/n’s sleeve, glancing across the street. There he was: Nicholas Wilson.

“You’ll be okay, Y/l/n; Mulder and I will be sure of it,” Scully whispered and silently slipped through the door, into the darkened shop. It was time. Y/n inhaled deeply and exhaled as she forced herself step from the shop front, exposing herself to the light of the yellow street lamps. She looked down the street, feigning indecision, trying to buy Scully time to run up to the rooftop whilst catching Mist’s attention without catching his eye.

When she was sure Mist was watching her, she turned and walked briskly down the sidewalk, eyes trained on the alleyway she was to enter. She shoved her hands deep into her pockets to stop their shaking. A thick fog that hugged the ground began to roll and sift around her ankles. So Mulder’s theory was correct.

Y/n picked up her pace, wondering if Mist would wait to attack her until they were somewhere secluded, or if the fog would soon be seclusion enough for him. She turned and entered the alleyway. Now was an appropriate time to turn around and pretend to notice him for the first time, she thought. But, when she glanced over her shoulder, the alley and street beyond were empty, save for the fog that only continued to thicken and rise.

Wait, Y/n wondered, her eyes widening. He doesn’t control the fog; he is the fog.

Y/n knew she was in trouble then. She turned on her heel and tore off in the direction of the dead end she and Scully had staked out. She had to get this over with, before it was too late.

Soon, she could hardly see in front of her, so thick was the fog. But she could see just well enough to catch the turn and sprint to the dead end where the clip for the harness hung from a thick cable. Y/n turned around to make sure Mist had followed her down the alley, and, sure enough, as the fog silently and menacingly crept down the road towards her, the figure of Nick Wilson slowly began to materialize from the rolling clouds. His eyes glowed silver, and his mouth curled into a grin that made Y/n’s blood freeze.

Wasting no more time, Y/n grabbed the cable and fumbled with the hook, her hands still unsteady. Mist continued his steady advance.

“Stay back!” Y/n shouted. It was the cue that she and Scully had decided upon to signal she was ready to be pulled up on the rooftop.

Mist laughed with a deep, unsettling rumbling from his chest. “My darling agent, you should have known you were next on my list.”

“That is precisely why I’m here,” Y/n replied, her voice steady despite her ever-growing fear. Where was Scully? “I said, stay back!”

Finally, the groan of the motor was heard from above. Mist furrowed his brow in confusion, and looked up to the source of the sound. Y/n released a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. She was safe. Any second, she would be pulled up to safety to the rooftop with Scully, and Mulder, hiding somewhere in the shadows, would take care of the rest. Slowly, Y/n began to rise from the ground.

But then, a long whine, some gurgling, and then the machine stopped. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Y/n’s panic rose, while her body remained a foot off the ground. Mist brought his gaze back down to Y/n, and his chilling grin grew even wider.

“Clever attempt to ambush me, but it looks like I’ll have you after all,” he said, losing his slow and steady gait, sweeping forward to grab Y/n by the throat. Despite hanging a foot from the ground, Mist still had an inch or two over her.

Y/n’s adrenaline surged, and she gave her attacker a firm kick to the stomach. He doubled over and stumbled back a few steps, which bought Y/n enough time to unclip herself from the pulley. She fell to the ground, landing on her elbow in a way that sent stars into her eyes. Suddenly, gunshots were heard from above. Scully.

But when Y/n looked up to Mist, she did not find a bleeding man; instead, an apparition of the once solid figure stood before her, impervious to the bullets from Scully’s gun. His silver eyes burned with anger, and, as he flared his nostrils, the fog covering the alleyway swept past him and saturated Y/n’s lungs. She couldn’t breathe, no matter much she gasped for breath.

“Goodbye, Agent Y/l/n,” Mist drawled. Y/n’s vision began to get hazy as the fog continued to suffocate her. No! she thought, Not yet! But she was fading by the second. 

Then, an angry voice -- not Mist’s. Her bleary eyes could just make out a bright yellow light flashing in front of her, like a flame, and then, suddenly, her lungs cleared. A pair of strong hands grabbed her, helping her sit up straight as she gasped for the cool night air.

Y/n’s vision finally cleared, and she looked up to find Mulder’s deep, brown eyes on her, his brows knitted in anxiety.

“Mulder,” Y/n choked out, and he pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back and rocking her back and forth. Over his shoulder, Y/n saw Scully running towards them.

“Wilson?” Scully asked, searching the alley for any signs of a return attack.

“Gone,” Mulder replied, letting go of Y/n and rising from the ground. He offered Y/n a hand up, and she took it, gratefully. “I think he’s gone for good.”

Scully’s expression read that she thought otherwise, but she said nothing more. All three agents were too exhausted for an argument. Well, two out of the three.

“Why would you do that?” Mulder demanded, rounding on Y/n. Her arms were crossed, her body shivering as she began to calm down. She had prepared herself for this.

“He wanted me next. Simple as that,” Y/n replied.

“I thought we were going to have someone else act as bait,” Mulder said. “Or, at least have a plan that was a lot safer and didn’t put you in so much danger!”

“It worked in the end, Mulder.,” Scully placed a hand on the bristling agent’s shoulder. “Let’s leave it at that.”

Mulder shrugged Scully’s hand away, turning his angry eyes on her. “What if it didn’t work? What if I wasn’t there?” he cried. “Y/n would have been dead. Why would you let her put herself in all that trouble?”

“Mulder, calm down,” Scully’s voice lost its consoling tone as she became more frustrated with his outbursts. “Your adrenaline is --”

“No, this is serious! You shouldn’t have let Y/n get herself almost killed!”

“Why are you so worked up over this?”

“Because I care about her, of course! If I lost Y/n, I-- I--”

“Mulder!” Y/n cut in, just as frustrated with his antics as Scully, but also growing in anxiety of what he was trying to say. She pinned him with a stony gaze. “Don’t blame Scully. This was largely my idea. I insisted upon being the one to lure Mist here. He had no interest in anyone else. Don’t you understand? Anyone else, and this plan wouldn’t have worked. Anyone else, and he would’ve found me at a time in which you and Scully wouldn’t have been around, and then I really would’ve been dead.”

Mulder was silent. He searched Y/n’s eyes, as if he were looking for another reason to stay angry. He found nothing, and finally relaxed his posture and looked down at the pavement. Scully smiled grimly and gave Y/n a knowing look.

“I’m going to survey the area, see if there’s anything we’re missing here,” she said and left her partners behind to sort out some feelings she had been all-too-well aware of for far too long.

Y/n sighed, and rubbed her arms, trying to summon some warmth to her skin. Mulder noticed, and he quickly slipped off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Y/n smiled in appreciation.

“You know, I meant what I said,” Mulder met Y/n’s gaze, a deep expression in his eyes that she couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“What?”

“I care about you,” he said, smiling softly, a little sheepishly. “A lot.”

Y/n had a sense of what Mulder was getting at, but she was too nervous to make the assumption. Instead, she carefully said, “Well, I care about you too.”

“No, no, what I mean is --” Mulder took a step closer to Y/n. They were barely a foot apart. Her breath was caught in her throat, but not because of the fog. “And I think you feel this way too, so I’m just going to say it.”

There was a pause, and Mulder looked up to the stars, as he was asking for whatever alien up there, watching them, to give him the courage to say his next words.

“Well, actually --” and Mulder leaned in, closing the space between him and Y/n with a kiss. It was soft and somewhat hesitant, yet entirely inviting, and Y/n found herself leaning into him, despite herself.

When they parted, a certain look in both of their eyes was more than enough to confirm that, yes, the feeling was mutual. They laughed, and Mulder quickly dipped his head to steal another kiss. Y/n felt over the moon.

“Alright, lovebirds,” Scully called from the other end of the alley. She wore a satisfied smirk, glad that the two finally had a heart-to-heart about their long-repressed feelings. Turning on her heel, she said, “Let’s go.”

Y/n and Mulder shared one last smile, and they strolled easily, happily, and relievedly back to the car where Scully was waiting.

[renaxwrites]

Eleven

.02  -  Ready to Run

synopsis: the number Eleven had always appeared in milestones of your life. it was a constant, and you didn’t know why. but you would soon find out when you study abroad in japan and meet Him.

pairing: tsukishima kei x fem!reader

warnings: none!

masterlist: here :)

a/n: hey y’all! I decided to give tsukishima’s mom a name, just to give her more familiarity for the story. I stuck with the ‘moon’ name theme, so her name is mizuki, meaning ‘beautiful moon’ or ‘water moon’. also, English will be in bold. btw, see if you can spot the lil meme ;) I hope you guys enjoy <3

     previous || next

There’s a lightning in your eyes I can’t deny. Then there’s me inside a sinking boat, running out of time. 

“We have now landed at our final destination, Japan. Please make sure to gather all of your belongings. Thank you for choosing to fly with us, we hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.”

Antsy, you jump up impatiently, cursing yourself for choosing the window seat, having to now wait a god-awful two more minutes to leave the plane.

Eventually, crisp, non-artificial and suffocating air blows your through hair as you rush outside to flag down a taxi to take you up north. The drive wasn’t too long, which was too bad. The journey to Miyagi prefecture was breathtaking, with mountains, scenery and all. Soon you stand outside a gorgeous residence with a quaint cherry blossom tree in the front.

You let out a quick sigh, and play with your locket, hoping to not let your nerves get the best of you as you walk up to the door. For some reason, knocking on doors and ringing doorbells and such made you nervous, so the second you step up to the door, you say a quick prayer, muster up all the courage you could, and are about to knock, when a pretty, blonde-ish woman greets you with a flourish.

“Welcome! We’re so excited to meet you! Here, let me help with your things, you’ve probably had a long trip…”

“Thank you,” you bow quickly before the two of you start hauling in your luggage.

“My name is Tsukishima Mizuki, but please, call me Mizuki, if you’re comfortable enough. I hope you don’t mind, it’s just me in here for the time being. I actually took time off of work so I can be here when you arrived! I have two sons, so I’ll admit it’ll be a nice change to have a girl in our company,” she laughs. Her warm, light-hearted laugh was enough to put you at ease and let down your guard.

“Thank you,” you say again. “My name is (y/l/n)(y/n), but call me (y/n).” You offer a small smile.

“Well, (y/n), I’m so glad you’re able to stay with us.” She leads you over to the dining area so the two of you can sit. “I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone from the U.S... I’ve always wondered what it was like over there...so I apologize in advance if I pester you with questions, haha! Sorry, sometimes I’m super curious about other cultures, so please let me know if I’m ever invading your space, then I’ll zip my lips!” Mizuki makes a motion of zipping her lips shut, then puts her imaginary key in her pocket.

You chuckle. “I don’t mind at all. I’m actually curious about culture over here as well. That’s part of why I chose to study over here!”

Mizuki ‘unzips’ her lips and forms a small ‘o’ in surprise. “Ohhh! How exciting! So, if you don’t mind me asking, did you study the language before you arrived? You speak Japanese very well! And that reminds me, you’re from the US, so you can speak English also, right?” she clearly is excited to get to know you, and the longer you converse with her, the more you feel comfortable.

“Well, my mother is Japanese, so she taught me the language. My dad was born and raised in America, so yeah, I am fluent in both English and Japanese. By the way, you have a very beautiful home, or, in translation, you have a very beautiful home.”

Mizuki laughs again. “You are one interesting girl, (y/n). I can already sense you will bring some joy to this home. On a different note, my boys will be home soon. My oldest, Akiteru, isn’t home that often due to work, but he promised to stop by so he can meet you. So you might see him around once in a while. My youngest, Kei, is actually your age. He goes to Karasuno High School not too far from here. You’ll see each other a lot, so if he's ever disrespectful, make sure to report to me,” she playfully demands.

You fake salute with a hearty “Yes ma’am!”

You both chuckle, then Mizuki checks the time. “They’ll actually be home soon, so I should start making dinner. Is there anything you prefer to eat? I can try to look up some American recipes, but I’m afraid it won’t taste the same…”

Waving your hands frantically, you fuss, “There’s no need to go through all that trouble! I’ve eaten plenty of the same meals you’ve had, so honestly, anything you make is fine. I might add I’m not a picky eater either, so hopefully that makes things easier!”

Mizuki hums and nods her head. “I’ll make some ramen tonight then. That sound alright to you?”

“As long as you let me help!”

                                  ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The past couple of hours had been the best you’ve had in a while. You can already tell that the stay in this particular household was going to be pleasant and serene.

Or so you thought.

Dinner was finished and the table was set. All that was left was the arrival of the boys. According to Mizuki, each boy came home at a certain time every day. If that was true, then Akiteru would be here in three minutes, and Kei would be here in Eleven.  

You didn’t want to read too much into that.

As expected, Akiteru arrives exactly three minutes later, where he swings open the door with a grin. “Where’s this mysterious creature that my mom’s been babbling about for months?”

Laughing, you get up and raise your hands in the air. “Most likely me!! And for months? My file can’t have been that interesting, was it?”

Akiteru chuckles, “Seemed like any old generic file to me. Probably the fact that you’re from America is the one thing that did it.”

The two of you turn to Mizuki who giggles and shrugs, “Can’t blame me can you?”

“Seems fair. My name is Tsukishima Akiteru, but Akiteru is just fine honestly. We only see each other sometimes, but feel free to ask me any anything! I’ll write down my phone number for you later. I would do it now but I’m starving! Long day at work...Ah, look at me babbling and being rude. What’s your name by the way?”

“(y/l/n) (y/n), but just call me (y/n), I don’t mind.”

“First name basis in only five minutes! Who woulda thought...ha, not me! Anyhow, I hope you’ll enjoy being here, we’ll be like a little family. Big brother Akiteru will take care of you whenever you need help or advice. Okay?”

You nod excitedly. “I’ve never had a brother. Or any siblings. This should be fun then…”

Akiteru laughs. “Well I’m glad to be the first closest thing to a sibling you’ll have. Speaking of which, where’s Kei? I’m so ready to eat!” As if on cue, his stomach rumbles.

Mizuki checks the time. “Any minute now.”

Just then, the door creaks open, and the room goes silent as you hear a shuffling of shoes being taken off. As his footsteps move closer, you can already tell this first meeting wouldn’t be as smooth as Mizuki’s or Akiteru’s.

Kei walks in with multiple bags on. You swear you can catch slight whiff of his scent from where you’re sitting.

A light mix of sweat and cologne? Mint?

You can’t put your finger on what it is, but it smells good…

And just as quick as the scent came, it was gone. Kei was gone.

You wondered what you missed in the split second you zoned out, but it must’ve been nothing due to the fact that Kei’s face showed surprise as he walked back in the room. You tried not to notice how attractive he was, despite only wearing a plain crescent sweatshirt and gray sweats. Nor the fact that even though his pj’s were plain they still clung to the evident muscles he had. Not the way those sweatpants hung loose on his hips and fit in just a certain place either…

Or definitely not the fact that he was now staring at you.

You felt yourself blush, and seemed to forget how to talk.

He beat you to the punch though.

“Who’s she?”

Mizuki shook her head. “This is (y/l/n) (y/n). She’s from the United States and is going to be staying with us for a while. Be nice and introduce yourself.”

Kei huffs. “I’m Tsukishima.”

Akiteru catches on to the lack of interest. “Tsukishima? No first name either lil’ bro?”

“Kei. Tsukishima Kei. But we’re not on first name terms yet, so I didn’t think it mattered. Haven't seen you in a minute Akiteru, is she why you’re home today?”

His big brother, still trying to spark some interest, pipes up, “Yeah! I mean, it’s not every day you get someone from a whole different country moving in. Plus you’ll be school buddies! Come on lil’ bro get excited about that at least!”

Kei, or Tsukishima apparently, slowly sits down as he took that fact in. “Is she really going to the same school as me?”

His mother sensed the displeasure in his voice, but she wasn’t going to take that attitude toward you, the new guest. “Yes, Kei, and you show her around the campus tomorrow when she starts.”

Tsukishima huffed again, “Do I really, I doubt we’ll have the same class, plus I have practice and a whole lot of other things to do.”

You try to ease the tension. Speaking for the first time, you announce, “It’s okay, I actually have to meet the vice principal for my schedule, then I’ll see what happens from there. So don’t worry about it!”

Tsukishima turns to you. He smirks. “So she does speak.”

You blush again, but are quick to retort, “Yup, in both Japanese and English, whichever you prefer.”

There’s a falter in his smirk, showing that he didn’t expect you to have a comeback.

“This will be interesting,” he simply states.

He says nothing else for the rest of the night. Just silently listens as Mizuki and Akiteru ask endless questions about you and your home country.

Though he remained silent, his presence seemed to affect you the most, even as you all retire to your separate rooms. Even as you lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, knowing he was in the next room. Even as you closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep.

For the first time since your parents’ accident, you had no nightmares.

There's a devil in your smile that's chasing me. And every time I turn around it's only gaining speed.

[mypoisonedvine]

I've had this idea for a fanfic and was wondering if you'd be up for writing something where the reader is a princess or royal and Jaskier saves her life. Maybe they have to hide out together for a bit and they fall in love while Jask helps her get back home. Of course since hes not a royal they're not supposed to be together but I was thinking either they sneak around or her claims her as "payment" for saving her life. Sorry its kinda detailed, feel free to change it up, and thank you!

Thank you so much for this prompt, I had a lot of fun with it!  And I’m sorry this took so freaking long!

Okay so.  I apologize in advance for the aggressive thirstiness of this one but like…………. I’m a red-blooded woman with NEEDS.  I wanted to subvert the idea of the shy, chaste princess a lil bit that’s all. Sorry anon I assume that you were picturing something fluffier, and I do think it's still very sweet, just has plenty of spice as well lol.  Reader in I Never Danced is a rule follower so I wanted to stretch my legs and do something more… chaotic?  This reader is a sex-loving promiscuous icon and we stan!  Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy :) 

 For the Love of a Princess (a Jaskier x royal!reader oneshot)

Rating: E (smut and violence- attempted kidnapping/murder but no gore)Word count: 3.6kTaglist: @100percentamess who has asked to be tagged in everything so here you go lol

The last few weeks had been rather peculiar for you.  First, your father declared war on a neighbouring country, which meant everything was more stressful.  Then, there were rumors of a witcher in town, and you found it exciting but everyone else was acting nervous and superstitious.  Finally, you had to attend some boring banquet and who would show up but the witcher himself, with his bard in tow?

See, you're the kind of woman who gets what she wants: it's a side effect of being a princess.  Spoiled? ��Not necessarily.  Just determined.  And when you heard that this bard Jaskier had a reputation and you saw him flash a wink and a smile at you during his song, you suddenly found something new that you wanted.

Sadly, with so many people around, you couldn't really make your move.  If anyone caught you trying to drag someone- let alone a near stranger- back to your quarters, your father would surely have your head, or worse: send you off to become a nun.

It must have been the hustle of the crowds, then, that let the assassin sneak in.  

You noticed something was strange as soon as you entered your room.  Sadly, by that point it was already too late: someone grabbed you from behind, covering your mouth and lifting you off the ground.  You screamed but of course it was muffled by the gloved hand.  You bit down on it, hard, and you heard a grunt as the hand pulled back.  Seeing your opportunity, you swung your elbow back and hit him in the ribs.  He was forced to let go and you fell to the ground.  Before you could get up, though, he was already grabbing your ankles and dragging you backwards.  You clawed at the ground but since there was an ornate rug covering the stone, all you did was pull it with you and wrinkle it.  Kicking and flailing desperately while he tried to grab you, you finally managed to land a kick to the groin.  He keeled over and you made a run for the door but he reached out and tripped you.  You didn't fall completely, but as you tried to regain your balance he was already standing again.  He lunged forward and you dodged, but as you walked backwards to get away from him, you realized that he had you trapped: to your left, the bed, to your right, the wall.  There was a window, but you even if you could manage to dash past him, you would never survive the fall.  Just as you tried to shield yourself with your arms, you looked up at the man and heard a roar, but it wasn’t coming from him: something smashed him over the head, and as he stumbled to the side from the blow, you saw Jaskier behind him, wielding a ruined lute.

As the assassin fell, he tripped over a fold in your rug and tumbled out the window with a yell.  You dashed to it, looking down to make sure your attacker was dead.  You winced when you saw him; since you were on the fifth floor, it didn’t take a physician to realize he was, in fact, definitely dead. 

You turned back to look at Jaskier with wide eyes. “You saved my life,” you whispered, astounded.

“I suppose so,” he agreed.

You were both panting, trying to catch your breath from the physical stress and fear and shock, and you looked at him, and he looked at you, and you wondered if both of you were having the same exact idea at the same exact time; you must have, because just as you ran towards him, he ran to you, and you kissed him with such hunger, nearly anger, all teeth and tongue and grabbing at clothes and pulling hair.  

“Take me, now,” you demanded, pulling both of you back towards the bed until you fell on it, and him on top of you.

“Yes,” he hissed in agreement, moving down to kiss and bite at your neck.  Your fingers dug into his biceps, and your legs wrapped around his hips as he pushed up the many layers of your skirt.  His hands were strong and calloused, but his touch was delicate and gentle as he ran his fingers up your legs.  You prayed he wouldn’t tease you because you didn’t think you could stand it, and thankfully your prayers were answered as his hands pulled away to open his trousers.  He must’ve made quick work of them because just a moment later you felt him plunge into you, without so much as a warning, stretching and filling you- just as you’d wanted.  The noise you made was unlike anything else: a scream, a moan, a growl, and a whimper all at once.  As soon as he was inside you he was pulling back and thrusting in at a punishing pace, fast and deep and hard enough that he had to hold you down to keep your body from moving across the bed.  

You reached up to push off his doublet, leaving only a chemise which exposed more of his chest and arms.  He smiled and licked his lips, grabbing the neckline of your dress and pulling it down, nearly ripping the fabric as your breasts were freed.  You yelped in surprise but it quickly turned to a moan as he dropped down to kiss along your neck and shoulders and collarbones and breasts until you were writhing under him desperately.  

He leaned back and moved your legs onto his shoulders.  The sight of your feet up in the air and his face between your knees was really something, especially when he turned his head to the side to leave teasing bites on your leg.  Your back arched as he leaned forward, folding you in half under him.  You screamed, properly, as you felt his cock pushed so deep inside of you, deeper than you even knew was possible.  It pushed against something inside you that made your whole body quiver, made you cry out with every movement until you felt tears welling at the corners of your eyes: not from pain, just from the intensity of the sensation.  His thumb wiped the tear away as it fell, and you were afraid he would think he had hurt you or that you didn't want this, so you decided to make yourself abundantly clear.

"Jaskier, don't stop," you commanded, "please don't stop, fuck."

"I won't stop," he promised.  You were already so close; you wanted more than anything to see him lose control, and to know that it was because of you.

"Please, please, come for me," you begged as you looked up at him, "Gods, I need you to come inside me."

"Fuck," Jaskier whispered.

"You feel amazing, baby, you're so fucking good," you continued.

"Where'd you learn to talk like that?" he asked, but you could hear the exhaustion in his voice, and you knew he couldn't keep his cool much longer.

"Not all princesses are so sheltered," you smirked.

"Oh, I'm well aware," he quipped, "but they're all supposed to be."

"I like doing things I'm not supposed to," you smiled up at him.

"I noticed," he replied with a wink.  He was really good at winking.  Maybe a shallow or silly thing to decide to pursue a man over, since it's what attracted you to him in the first place, but clearly your tastes had served you well because he was about to make you come.  

"I'm close, gods, I’m going to-” you began.

“Come for me,” he interrupted, or maybe just finished what you were going to say.

At that point you stopped really paying attention to what you were saying, but there was definitely a lot of ‘yes’ and ‘fuck’ mixed in.  It was more important to you to focus on the sounds he was making- they were even more beautiful than his singing.  

~

A few months had passed, and all the while you and Jaskier courted in secret.  In fact, you were currently on a romantic date: he had you pressed against the wall of a secluded linen closet, your cheek pushed into the cold stone as he grabbed your hips for stability while he thrusted into you.

"So tight," he whispered into your ear. "I'm sure I wouldn't fit if you weren't so fucking wet all the time."

"I'm not wet all the time," you corrected, "just when you're around."

"Fuck," was his only reply.

"I'm close," you alerted him, but you regretted it as he decided to use this as a learning opportunity.

"Beg me for it," he demanded, "or I'll stop."

You scoffed, not thinking him capable of that restraint.  That was a mistake, as he instantly pulled out and your body ached without him.

"No," you whined, "please." 

You arched your back and tried to press yourself into him but he kept backing away so you couldn't reach.

"I'm sorry," you whispered, hoping to get back on his good side, but it wasn't enough.

"You know what you need to do," he smiled against the back of your neck as he started to kiss and bite you there: the feeling ran straight through you to your insides which clenched around nothing.

"I want you, please, I want your cock inside me," you began.  That earned you a squeeze from the hand around your hip but not much else.

"Gods, I need it, Jaskier, please," you whined, "I need you."  He kissed down to your shoulder but stopped there, still refusing to give you what you wanted.  You felt the words spilling out of you, your need for him apparently bypassing that part of your brain that filters what you say before you say it.

"I love you, Jaskier; I've fallen in love with you," you finally revealed, not even really meaning to say it.  It worked though, as he spun you around to face him and forced his way back into you.  You cried out, grabbing the back of his neck while he lifted your legs to wrap around him.

"Truly?" he asked quietly as he peppered kisses along your neck.

"Completely," you responded. "Do you love me?"

"Gods, of course," he laughed, his forehead resting on your shoulder as he continued to drive into you. "I've loved you since I met you.  And only found ways to love you more with each passing day."

"Please don't stop," you begged.

"The fucking or the talking?" he clarified.

"Both," you answered.

“You’re so beautiful,” he continued, his words interrupted with kisses along your neck and chest and shoulders, “and smart, and kind.  It’s impossible not to be in love with you.”

You smiled, though you were blushing as well.

“I’m sure everyone who knows you is in love with you just as much as I am- certainly anyone who, er, knows you as well as I do.  To be euphemistic,” he smirked. “What I’m not sure of is why you keep me around, when any man would be falling over himself just to kiss your hand.”

“You’re wondering why I keep you around?  I’m about to come in a linen closet, what’s not to love?” you quipped.  You felt him smile against your skin, but his voice sounded a little concerned.

“It’s not just that though, right?  You have more use for me than sex?”

“You certainly have entertainment value,” you smirked.

He frowned.

“And you’re the kindest man I’ve ever met who never fails to make me laugh.  Is that what you wanted to hear?”  You tried to stay it with some sense of begrudgement but it was difficult when he was still fucking you- which is what you’d asked for, so no complaints there- and when you were so overcome with your feelings for him.

“Yes,” he smiled, “though I want to hear you say that you love me again.”  Of course he couldn’t just ask you for that, he had to push deeper into you, making you nearly scream it out.

“I love you, Jaskier, fuck, I love you,” you moaned.

“How long?” he pressed, biting on your neck lightly as he started to drive into you even faster.

“So long, gods, I feel like I can’t remember a time that I didn’t.  I can’t remember what it’s like to not need to be near you all the damn time,” you answered through gritted teeth.

It began to feel like an interrogation, though a very pleasurable one.  “How did you know you loved me?” 

“Fuck, Jaskier!” you protested, barely able to form sentences when you were so close to orgasm. “You were playing a song, and everyone was looking at you, and you looked so good, and you sounded so good, and I suddenly realized it.  I don’t know how I knew.  I just- fuck- I just thought to myself ‘I didn’t know I could care about somebody this much.’”

He kissed you, deep and slow and burning with a passion that felt entirely different from what you expected.  You came and it hit you like a bolt of lightning, your body quivering under his touch.  Your moans were lost against his lips, and you felt that he was there with you, finding his own release just as he brought you to yours.  When you both started to slow your breathing as you calmed down from the powerful high, he relaxed his grip on your thighs, letting your legs find their way back to the floor.  

"We should marry," he suggested as you shifted your dress back into position.

"Proposings of marriage are less trustworthy when they're seconds after orgasm," you frowned.

"No, I've thought about it before now," he explained. "I've thought about it a lot."

"Then you must've remembered that I'm expected to marry a king or prince."

"Yes," he sighed. “Your father likes me, I think.”

“I don’t know if he likes you that much,” you murmured.

“But he cares for you, and if he understood how much I love you…” Jaskier trailed off, taking your hands in his, looking at you with eyes that beamed with hope.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t understand how much you love me.  Or how often,” you considered with wide eyes.

“Please,” he interjected desperately, his hands squeezing yours a bit, “think about it.  I want to spend my life with you.”

“Julian,” you replied, your voice much softer, one hand leaving his grasp to comb through his hair, “all I want is to say yes.  I just don’t know that I can.”

“You can,” he encouraged.  “You may be royalty but you’re not property.”

“It’s easier for you to say when the approval of your family isn’t on the line,” you deflected.

“Then we’ll marry in secret.  Or I’ll find some way to become a king, I don’t know,” he smiled.

“That’s preposterous,” you scoffed.

“Nothing could be more preposterous, more outrageous, more unbelievable, than you and I not being together,” he whispered, stepping closer.  

You kissed him, smiling into it, and you were sort of scared because you had no idea what to do with feelings like this, but you felt safe as long as Jaskier was with you.

~

You sat beside your father, sitting through one of the worst royal duties imaginable: meetings!  You just had to be upright in your throne, looking all royal and stuff, while the people rich enough to make audience with the King took turns popping in and usually complaining about something that they were too lazy to fix themselves.  

If anything could get your attention now, the only thing, it would be-

Your posture changed completely when you saw Jaskier enter the room.  You could tell he’d worn the nicest thing he owned; he was wringing his hands, looking around the room with a shifting gaze.

“Jaskier!” your father announced with a grin. “I didn’t expect to see you here.  Is this some sort of impromptu performance?  Where is your lute?”

“Your majesty,” he answered with a quick bow, “I am actually here for your audience, not as a musician.”

Your eyes went wide.  This was his genius plan?  You nearly felt sick you were so nervous.

“What is it, boy?” your father prompted.

“Well, I’ve come to ask you for something,” he explained. 

“Spit it out then!”

“I’ve come to ask for the princess’ hand in marriage!” Jaskier replied suddenly, louder than before.

There was a brief moment of silence, but it felt like hours.  It ended when your father began to laugh.

“This is ridiculous!” the king guffawed.  You felt your cheeks grow hot.

“It’s true,” Jaskier replied firmly, puffing up his chest as he glanced at you briefly, “I’ve fallen in love with her.”

“Yes, well,” he scoffed in reply, “my daughter is a fair and gentle maiden.  I’m sure she has plenty of potential suitors who only wished they could take her hand.  The difference is that they have the foresight not to barge in and ask me for my only child!”  He stood up, face red with anger, and addressed the guards.  “Get this fool out of here!”

You stood up too, grabbing your father’s shoulders just as the soldiers started to drag Jaskier away by the arms.

“Papa, no!” you begged.

“Silence, girl,” he scolded.

“Unhand him!” you yelled to the guards, who obeyed- perhaps a little too well, dropping Jaskier onto the floor.

You looked back at your father, who was looking at you in confusion.

“What is this?!” he asked incredulously.

“I love him as well, father,” you answered with confidence, even though inside you were absolutely terrified.

“WHAT?!” he bellowed.

“We’re in love,” you replied, turning to give Jaskier a smile.  He looked back at you with a look that made your heart melt.

“Blasphemy!” your father cried out. “What are you doing?” he asked as he turned to the guards again, “I said to get him out of here!”

They picked him up from the floor and continued dragging him towards the door, ignoring his stuttered attempts to explain himself.

“Stop!” you yelled as you stole the sword from the guard beside you, jumping down the steps and running to Jaskier’s aid, holding the weapon out to the neck of one of the soldiers.

“I order you to unhand this man,” you growled, “and I beg you not to test me.”

They hesitated, but after a moment, Jaskier was dropped onto the stone again.

“Ow!” he complained. “Worst proposal ever!”

You helped him up off the ground, wrapping an arm around him and using the other to hold the stolen sword in a defensive position.

“Father,” you said sternly, “I love this man.  I intend to take him as my husband.  I will do so here, as princess of this land, before the gods and my people; or, if you refuse, I will do so in the forest, alone, and spend the rest of my days running from my own armies and living the life of a peasant.”

You felt his gaze on you, but you were too focused on what you were saying to look back at him.  You couldn’t read the king’s face very well but there was definitely shock present there.

“I’d be happy either way,” you sighed. “So, it’s up to you, father.  Have your choice.”

The next silence that came was even longer than the last one.  Your father slowly stepped down, walking towards the both of you.  Though you weren’t sure exactly of his intentions, you dropped your sword.  Instantly the guards rushed towards Jaskier again, but the king raised his hand, silently ordering them to stop.  When he finally stood in front of you, he took your face in his hands.

“My daughter,” he smiled sweetly, tears welling in his eyes. “You’re so like your mother.  She’d be so proud of you.  If only she could see you now, all grown up...”

You felt a tear run down your own cheek as well. 

“If only she could be here, for your wedding day,” he added.  You ran into an embrace, and he held you close, and in that hug there was a silent understanding between you, things that neither of you were strong enough to say, but that you didn’t need to anymore.

“My son!” he said to Jaskier, pulling him into the hug as well as the bard let out a little squeak from the perhaps-semi-aggressive grab. 

“I- I’m flattered by your approval, your Grace, if a little surprised,” Jaskier stammered.

“If my daughter loves you, truly, then I love you as well.  But if you think this puts you in line for the throne or gives you any political power, you can keep dreaming!” he sing-songed in a fake-sweet voice.

~

It was a beautiful ceremony.  Silk banners on every alcove, stained glass windows, and flowers everywhere: mostly dandelions.  Your dress took months to be made, with embroidered florals and precious gems decorating the entire (ridiculously long) train.  You wore your mother’s wedding tiara, but Julian told you later that your eyes sparkled brighter, like the poetic dork he was.  He looked great in royal clothes as well, though the fur cape was a bit much in your opinion.  The reception was even better: the entire kingdom celebrated with festivals across the cities, and the merriment went on for days with feasts and dancing and lots of music.

All that said, you had a lot more fun at the honeymoon.

[darkestwolfx]

Brains VS. Brawns - Re-Review #52

Look at MAX with his weapon of choice!

Right, now I’ve got that desperate exclamation out of the way, let’s get to the proper part of the review.

This is the final episode of series 2. Goodness grief, I cannot believe we’ve made it this far already. But we have, and so once again, I will give out one of my massive thank you’s to you all for supporting the Re-Review Series (even though the author has been massively busy in lockdown [ironic, right?] and so has given you some rather poor ones some days).

But, let’s begin with this shot of the desert, which somehow reminds me of TOS ‘The Uninvited’. What was it Scott said in that episode about unfriendly places?

Yeah, Thunderbird One got shot down in that episode... and in this episode, someone is also shooting at it, but with a giant, very dangerous - if you remember Brains trying to tell us all the possibilities back in ‘Power Play’ (or Battle of the Bad Guys Volume 1, as I like to remember it) - very powerful laser!

Yes, the desert is a very unfriendly spot.

So yes, this episode if where we get to see Project sentinel, a weapon that was beyond The Hood’s realm of conscience. Personally, I think The Hood would have definitely used that laser.

I thought this shot from ‘The Uninvited’ was relevant to show what I meant about the desert. See, unfriendly place. And I officially respect Adam Wilkin of the interweb for making this! It fits perfectly with my current line of conversation and really looks like it could have been a TAG episode.

Anyhow, moving on from my line of thought from the title card, let’s get down to business. And by that I mean the rescue business! 

And let’s just casually take Thunderbird One out to the desert - even after everything we’ve just been discussing and looking at? Yeah, the desert and Thunderbird One aren’t friends, but folks, be reassured, we don’t get to see it shot down today! Live in reassurance that TB1 is fine. I couldn’t have a certain someone holding their breath all the way through the review to hear that nugget of knowledge.

“I’m tracking the source... oh no! We have a situation. A really, really big one. A massive laser satellite just showed up on scanners. Guys, I think The Mechanic’s Project Sentinel is online.”

Because these bad guys have really been quiet since ‘Home on the Range’ so what else could we expect for the series final? And if there was ever a time for the “we have a situation line” it was now.

“That laser blast revealed a hidden underground facility. my scans show one life sign trapped inside.”

Hmm... the cogs in my brain were already turning at this. An underground facility with no records available to John?

“John, where am I exactly?”

“I can’t find any record of it. Whoever built that place didn’t want anyone to find it.”

“Well, The Mechanic found it.”

Yeah, I was suspicious.

“Losing those power cells didn’t stop The Mechanic. He’s using the sun to power it now!”

Why would The Mechanic want to fire at the Sahara? Yeah, I was doubly suspicious.

Yep, and we’ve yet to find a way to stop solar power - especially if you’ve got your solar panels up in space right near the source. Let’s power the world environmentally and take a leaf out of The Mechanic’s books.

“Scott, the Sentinel is firing!”

Warnings are useful given in advance Brains!

I sort of felt that. It looked and sounded like it hurt... It’s always Scott isn’t it? I bet they’ll be more prompts going up after this reminder... I’m still working on the rockfall, they don’t give us (or Scott) much chance to recover here).

“That was way too close.”

Yeah, you’re telling me!

“It looks like the longer the Sentinel charges, the more powerful it’s laser.”

Basic solar energy principles, right there.

Throw back to Friday - you know, hypercars, Tycho, David Tennant - “he will knock four times”, remember that line (different fandom I know, but go with it).

* Knock knock *

And we only get two. Shame. See where my mind wanders?

“This is International Rescue. Open up. I’ve come to get you out of here.”

“Ah, Scott Tracy. It took you long enough.”

“The Hood!”

Bet no one saw that coming.

Oh, wait, me! I did!

Cue obligatory gasps.

*Gasp*

*Gasp*

“The Hood!”

“What are you up to Hood?”

Punch him, Scott, please punch someone for once.

(Reminder that this show is universally rated).

Or not.

Just let The Hood walk right past you.

Universal rating.

There’s a parallel world somewhere - I like to think - where Scott does punch that smug face.

“Isn’t it obvious? The Mechanic is trying to fry me with a space laser.”

I know he’s the bad guy, I know we’re not meant to like him, but that line was humour central, I laughed massively. I’d forgotten it completely!

“I’m waiting for you to rescue me.”

“Us rescue you?”

“You are International Rescue, are you not?”

Sorry, you must have dialed the wrong number, this is International Gardening, supported by the one and only Ned Tedford. The only thing we rescue is geranium’s, definitely not super villains. Just imagine that world for a second.

But uh, no, this is International Rescue, reporting for duty.

“And that makes you think we’ll rescue you?”

“I’m counting on it.”

Remember that quality of Scott’s we love? The calm thinking, forward pushing, forgiving;

“Who you are and what you’ve done doesn’t matter.”

Yeah, well here it wavers, because it matters. This is the one (possibly there’s more on Scott’s bad list, but I think The Hood is probably the one he really can’t see past - I mean, he forgives Fuse, but I’m saying no more because we’ll get there later) person that Scott cannot treat with the same attitude he faces the rest of life and their rescues with. Everyone has their limits and for Scott, I think forgiving and saving the person who killed their Dad is just a step too far. And I don’t blame his lapse, it’s completely understandable. Put in his position, I think I would have been the same.

“Scott he has a point. We have a duty to protect people from harm. We don’t get to choose who that is.”

“Grandma...”

“But- just because we have to save him, doesn’t mean he’ll like it.”

I like her thinking.

“International Rescue, my life is in your hands.”

“Just make sure you remember that.”

Yeah, and then take shots at them again in Series 3.

Right, so summarizing up until here;

Let’s save The Hood - because morals demand it, rightly so - but that doesn’t mean we can’t imprison him at the same time! See, Scott is kinda getting what he wants.

“To The Hood. You can hide no more. Give me what you want or be destroyed.”

The Hood is controlling The Mechanic! But he’s refusing! I love it when someone overcomes challenges. So the whole controlling thing, definitely changes the playing board.

“I don’t think International Rescue will let that happen.”

“He’s right, Mechanic. Stand down.”

“I’m not after you International Rescue. I only want The Hood. Step aside.”

“As much as I’d like to, I can’t do that.”

“Then go down with him.”

He’s not actually a bad guy deep down. I knew there was more to this guy than we ever saw in ‘Earthbreaker’. And now, for one of my favourite events - the TAG game of Catch The Hood.

“Thunderbird One is about to be toast.”

“Maybe Thunderbird Shadow could carry the weight for a while.”

“What are you doing?”

“This is where you get off.”

Ding. Going down.

“Where are you going?”

“To Thunderbird Three. I’m going to take out Sentinel and The Mechanic before he takes out a Tracy.”

Got to love this boys spirit. That, and he hates to be left out.

“Alan, that’s a terrible plan. Firstly, The Mechanic will be operating the Sentinel remotely, so we don’t know where he is. Secondly, it’s a giant laser. Thunderbird Three would be shot clean out of the sky.”

Brains’ practically really is a good at being crushing. But it is practical.

“Let Thunderbird Four take the package for a while. I hope you don’t get seasick Hood, because we’re going all the way down.”

“John, this isn’t working. We’re in hot water down here.”

“Don’t worry, Thunderbird Four help is on the way.”

“Our turn to play pass the parcel. Parker, active the magnetic bumpers.

“Yes, M’Lady.”

“Here that Hood. You’re going for a nice drive in the country. He’s all yours, Lady Penelope.”

“Parcel received.”

Honestly, there’s no better way to document this scene really, save the scene itself, so I’m trying my best here.

“The magnets locked hon but gaw hit’s ‘eavy. hI do ‘ope hit will ‘old.”

“Parker, that magnet could hold a tractor if it had to.”

“We know that M’Lady, but The ‘ood doesn’t.”

Loved that laugh, Parker!

Meanwhile, on the chase;

“Can’t we just ditch The ‘ood? Better him than hus.”

“That’s not very International Rescue now, is it Parker?”

“No, M’Lady.”

But I’m with him.

“Thunderbird Two couldn’t sit by and let you have all the fun.”

No, and Alan tagged along. Virgil probably - wisely - pulled him off the island before he exploded.

“Magnetic coupling detached.”

“Got it.”

“This is the most fun I’ve had in ages.”

I’m honestly not sure the being chased by a giant laser part is fun... playing catch with The Hood? Yes, that’s fun. Better with no fear of being blown up!

Sorry, the game of catch distracted me, let’s get to the Brains part of the episode. Little bit of jumping around to be had.

“I wonder what it is The Mechanic wants exactly...”

Well, why don’t you go and find out.

There’s was a full Brains and MAX gear up sequence. About time.

“No, MAX. This laser’s far too dangerous for anyone to be on board. Rockets disengaged. That should let us slip through undetected.”

And they’re nearly detected! Contradiction number 1.

“Quiet MAX. There’s no one here, but we don’t know what kind of alarms there are.”

You know, the amount of times Brains has very definitely said (I think we’re on three) that The Mechanic couldn’t possibly be here, is really making me think The Mechanic is actually going to be here. Any one else?

Remember what you were saying to Alan and MAX about remote operating? That looks like The Mechanic to me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well?”

“I asked first?”

“It’s my satellite.”

“Yes. Good point.”

Adored MAX, head turning, not sure where to look. These two were meant to be besties. It’s the joint speaking that gives it away.

“What could The Hood possibly have that you want so badly?”

Yes, let’s get to the point.

“It’s not what he has. It’s what he does. What he makes me do.”

“His cybernetic eye! The Hood is controlling you!”

Well done! It’s only taken 26 episodes! I mean, I guessed by around 13, but okay...

“Not always. I’ve learnt to fight it. That’s much easier up here. But I can’t fight him forever.”

“It doesn’t have to be like this. International Rescue can help you. I can help you.”

“No one can help me.”

Why does no one ever take the help first off! Trust in Brains mate! Sorry, Mr Mechanic, Sir.

“Maximum power!”

Yeah, Brains, I’m with John.

“The Mechanic is powering up for a single shot that will take out everything in the vicinity of The Hood. Brains, it’s now or never.”

MAX being such a hero fighting the Meccas.

“There! I’ve shut down his controls.”

“You’ve ruined everything! now I’ll never be rid of him.”

“Mechanic, trust me, as Chief Engineer of International Rescue, we will find a way to make sure The Hood never has control over you again. You’re coming with me.”

“You want to arrest me that much.”

“I’m not arresting you. I’m saving you.”

This is the start to a beautiful friendship. Just wait another twenty-odd episodes for it. Sit back, kick your feet up,

“The Mechanic is not fully responsible for his actions. He must be protected from The Hood. International Rescue will be in touch, I promise. Engineer to engineer.”

All’s well that ends well.

Speaking of;

“Hood, you’re under arrest.”

“Yes, please! Just get me away from International Rescue!”

I know they’ve just thrown him here, there and everywhere, but somehow I don’t think The Hood would ever take to arrest that easy. Not without a plan... and let’s face it, he had one in ‘Legacy’, what’s the bet he pulls the same trick?

“It seems like we can’t say it enough. Thank you, International Rescue.”

Yes, because not seem rude, but you would probably have lost the world ten times over with what we’ve seen of the GDF’s ‘show of force’ so far. They didn’t even notice when Captain Foster wasn’t Captain Foster! Really, The Hood should have set his sights higher and tried to play Colonel Casey. International Rescue might have been the only ones to notice.

“With those two in custody, all of you might just get a break.”

“Well, to be honest, I’m looking forward to some good old fashioned rescues for a change.”

“Sea quakes.”

“Rock slides.”

“Runaway asteroids.”

“Petty thieves stealing classified technology.”

“Unruly Ambassadors.”

“Dog sitting.”

“And fused power relays.”

And there you have it. What International Rescue call a normal Tuesday.

And we’ve reached the end Series 2!

Oh, wait, it’s like a post credit scene (only before the credits) and look!

Handcuffs on the floor and tied up GDF officers? Well, here we go again.

I mean, is anyone surprised that he found a way out? I’m not. And look at these people in purple! We haven’t had much purple yet in this show - besides the fact Grandma Tracy wears it all the time, so I feel a little like they’re stealing her signature colour. Couldn’t they have gone for black like every other bad guy in TAG? Apparently not.

“Everything has gone according to plan. The Tracy’s have taken care of The Mechanic and now, nothing to stop us causing global chaos.”

Is that a hint dropped there, you know like an easter egg?

But that is the end of Series 2. New bad guys to be introduced properly in tomorrows re-review!

[sophiexwrites]

ok, hear hear me out: a child of aphrodite that is ace/aro/both. ill prob write this myself at some point but i wanna read your take (btw i think i accidentally sent this same question to your main non-writing blog so sorry if it looks familar)

This is such a great idea, I love it: check out @troopy-writes-kinda, the asker's writing blog, if you want to see more ideas like it in the future (shameless friend plug, if that's okay)!

Cari in Camp Half Blood (please suggest a better title)

Setting: CHB, practically canon, no major differences

“And here’s the Hermes cabin, where you’ll be staying until you’re claimed.” I waved towards the cabin, a small smile on my face as I remember my time there. “If you need me, I’ll be in the Aphrodite cabin — just come on over and I’ll sort it all out. But don’t worry!” I saw the expression on the young boy’s face and rushed to reassure him. “They’re all great people, I’m sure you’ll make loads of new friends. And if somehow you don’t,” I shrugged, pale cotton of my dress rubbing against my wide shoulders, “then you still have me. Okay?”

“Okay.” Kyle replied, a small smile on his face, before wandering into the cabin. A roar came from inside and I imagined him being greeted by 10 different people, all smiling and joking to make him feel at home. The thought made me smile with them, as I wandered back to my cabin.

“Cari!” I heard the rush of pebbles on the path; a smiling face threw themselves into my vision. “Cari, you’re back from school!”

“An hour or two?!” Sarah muttered under her breath, cursing the gods for letting her spend so long in the forge. “I need to make a watch that will last through all the heat...”

“What have you been working on instead?”

“Oh, just a gift.”

“A gift?” I was interested now, Sarah didn’t make things for others everyday. “Who for?”

“Sam.” She mumbled, and I nodded quietly. She’d told me of Sam before, a longtime crush who seemed blind to any advances. Honestly? I could see myself reacting the same way - I’d never understood or felt love as more than platonic, especially not for me.

“Ah.” I bit my lip, because this was when our conversations always became awkward.

“Anyhow...” Sarah wasn’t blind or insensitive, she knew to change the subject. “I’ll see you at dinner, okay? And be nice to us when you do cabin checks!” She rushed off with a wink and some finger guns, already putting her goggles back on. It wasn’t uncommon for people to come up to me as I walked around camp, I had a reputation for being a friend and advice giver. Frankly, I enjoyed it and the purpose it gave me... what else was a child of Aphrodite supposed to do except from deal with love, even if all she could do was with the platonic?

I wandered through the pink door and remembered that maybe not everyone liked me. It wasn’t my siblings that disliked me, of course not - they loved my identity, because it was a part of me. I suppose the fact that I was no competition for a crush helps too. Our cabin was neat as ever, apart from the space under our beds, with the same cloying scent of perfume that stuck to us each time we left; same pastel pink walls and lacy curtains; the same blue, pink and green colour scheme. Everything was the same, if you ignored the white marble statue hogging the space beside my bed.

"Where did that come from?" I asked, looking around to Lacy, one of my youngest sisters and the only other one there. She stayed year round, so she probably saw it arrive.

“Not sure, it just turned up one day.” She shrugged, putting her magazine away. I glanced over her shoulder, there were some really cool dresses in there. “It’s definitely a statue of mother, though, and we tried to move it but...” The girl trailed off, pushing against the statue with no result. I wandered after her, shoving my bag under the bed with a sigh. As I knelt down to do so, however, I noticed an inscription on the pedestal.

“Lacy, have you seen this?” I asked, having her kneel beside me. It crumpled her outfit, but she didn’t seem to mind at all.

“No? I don’t think so, it’s not like we checked under your bed or anything.” 

“Okay.” I bit my lip, slightly annoyed. Here was some mysterious writing, hidden in shadow that made it illegible. “Will you help me move my bed?”

“I’m not sure we’re allowed...”

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. She was sweet, but always a little afraid. “We can move it back afterwards, don’t worry.” Lacy nodded, after a glance behind her, and I counted down for the haul. 

“On three, okay? One, two...” We braced ourselves, because the bed surely wouldn’t be light. “Three!” We heaved, staggering because the bed was... somehow incredibly light? 

“Woah!” Lacy gasped, adjusting her grip as we carried the bed into the middle of the room. “That’s freakishly light.”

“Yeah.” I replied, shocked but not fully listening. With the bed cleared, I only had to ignore my dusty mess to see the inscription. And it was... French?

“‘Tu es ma fille; je t'aime’? What does that mean?” Lacy asked with a terrible accent, looking towards me. I studied French in school; only a weak effort to impress our mother and feel more like her child. She’d claimed me three years ago, sure, but it seemed reluctant. Aphrodite’s sign had been faint, and there was no stunning makeover like all my siblings had. Just plain, boring Cari, tall and heavily built with clumsy hands. Speaking of which, my hand shook on its way to cover my mouth, eyes watering in surprise. 

“I-it means...” I swallowed and removed my hand, letting the tears roll down my face. “’You are my daughter; I love you.’” That was a message to me? From my  mother? Saying... she loved me? I had to read it again to be sure, wiping away the tears of joy and relief and straight up emotion that ran through me, the acceptance and validation dragging the crushing weight from my chest. 

“Oh, Cari! I’m so happy for you!” Lacy squealed, arms wrapped around my waist in a hug, head barely reaching my collarbone. “Are you happy too?”

“Yes.” I breathed, inhaling and exhaling with the most glorious ease. “Yes, I am.”

I had to let someone else do cabin checks that night.

--------------------

Please tell me if you liked that! I’m not ace/aro so all I’ve written about it is from research, I hope I didn’t get anything wrong or offend anyone. If I did, please tell me (only if you feel comfortable ofc) via comment/ reblog/ message/ ask (anon is on)/ literally anything, because I’ll do my best to correct it. Same goes for the French: I used two online translators but I don’t know if they’re correct. Last but not least, I had She-Ra’s Scorpia in mind for Cari’s physical build, because I’m on Season 4 and am obsessed and Scorpia’s my favourite character (and I wonder where I got Kyle’s name from, huh?). Thanks for reading!

[lansizhuis]

Hello! I’ve been seeing a lot of tweets on twitter regarding “Guardian” and was wondering if you could tell me whether that’s a novel or show? I’ve seen a show version I think, but I doubt it’s the same one everyone’s talking about. Thank you in advance, you’re always of great help!

Am I ashamed to admit these asks made me get out of bed so I can get to my laptop and answer this while feeling the keys as I cry over how much I love Zhenhun/Guardian and weilan??? nope

BASIC DETAILSZhenhun/Guardian (i will mostly refer to is as zhenhun) is one of Priest’s (a popular danmei writer) early works dating back 2012 - so it is, originally a novel. It got a live action adaptation last year summer of 2018.

DRAMA/LIVE-ACTIONDue to loads of censorship issues (got pulled out after ep 6 then back again then pulled out for a while when it ended then back again) especially since Zhenhun’s canon story revolves around gods, ghosts, REINCARNATION (pls tell me you felt my tears there), and the like then this was completely scraped off and made way to some mutant/alien thing. OKAY tbh I haven’t met anyone who went to the drama for the plot hahaha I’m gonna go ahead and say it - plot is sht (understandable w/ censorship concerns but still), ending is sht (so bad that priest had to write a mini fix it in her 4th extra about it), cgi is sht (this one was bc they originally had a very rich company sponsoring them hence the amazing OSTs aka pre-prod stuff but then the company went bankrupt whelp soooo), etc. WE ALL STAYED BECAUSE OF WEILAN. Zhu Yilong (played Shen Wei - left in blue suit) and Bai Yu (played Zhao Yunlan - right in uhh rugged clothing lol) had such amazing chemistry!!! They seriously couldn’t have found a better pair to have portrayed our main pair!!! Let me fangirl for a bit bc I love them sfm and I thank their ancestors for reproducing. 

And sooo quick facts:

Zhu Yilong: a bit shy and gentle but was actually a delinquent student in the past and he’s super strong af like he does muay thai, boxing, and in short he can snap us in half despite his super duper beautiful face (his face was like made by god as a personal project while mine was passed down to an intern - that’s the hierarchy around here)

Bai Yu: rowdy af bb pls sit still for a moment but was actually a model student who did archery, calligraphy, etc in the past and lol he’s actually weak af don’t let the facial hair fool you hahaha he has delicate looking hands and fans have noted his thin af arms and very noticeable slim waist (bai yu w/o facial hair: literal babey // bai yu w/ facial hair: UNCLE)

Lemme just throw in some of my fav stuff of them:

shen wei at episode xx with an in-love look: this must be.....brotherhoodme, behind my screen: BINCH NO???????

lol that even their script (and da qing) cant handle them

ALSO the producers and staff AND both zhu yilong and bai yu read the novel and worked around the  censorship issue really good like that part where zhao yunlan changes his hairstyle midway-ish of the show bc usually when a woman marries, they change their hairstyle so yeah tiny things like that

fans: ugh cant believe weilan cant get married in the dramaharper bazaar photoshoot: we got u fam

It has 40 episodes and ngl I ended up ff so many things starting ep 25 unless my dads were on screen. Oh, and you can watch it HERE. ANYWAY i have to shut up about them now so i can continue on to the most important part aka.....

THE NOVEL*breathes in* I binged the novel so fast it rivaled my MDZS reading hence this is how i know im as obsessed lmao It’s currently being translated HERE by rainbowse7en. THE NOVEL IS EXTREMELY SUPERIOR IN ALL ASPECTS IM GOING FERAL!!!!!!! The novel is waaay more intense and darker and tbh I’m still crying over the fact that Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu could have definitely done novel version had it not been for censorship issues bc they’re that good! 

Okay, anyway, back to the novel so quick summary is that gods of the past existed, there’s hell and afterlife whom the Special Investigations Department (SID) deals with and the chief of that unit is Zhao Yunlan. There’s a lot of supernatural and fantasy elements here which is kind of a spoiler if I discuss so I’m letting that go. Anyhow, so any case that’s supernatural is given to SID and we open with a case in a university where *drum roll* Professor Shen Wei is teaching. And so our pair meets and we get intense emotions from Shen Wei who obviously has deep affections for Zhao Yunlan but won’t get close to him. Thing is, Zhao Yunlan is a shameless SHAMELESS VERY THIRSTY man (canonically bi lol) who’s out for this very beautiful Professor Shen. 

One of the things about Priest is you get a challenging time who’s the top and who’s the bottom and I was speculating the entire time and yet only getting “;)” responses from my friends who’ve read it before me. Not gonna say much but when it got revealed who was who I LOST IT HAHAHAHA im still laughing about it tbh. THERE’S FOUND FAMILY FEELS FOR SID!!!!!! they’re so dysfunctional and are easily ordered around by Zhao Yunlan when he threatens to cut off their bonus. Every single SID member fantasizes on beating up their shameless boss and tbh I sympathize haha But heyyy, they also love and care for each other. AND YOOO DA QING IS A CAT!!!!!!! i love cats and esp with how he deals with his “useless master” aka our shameless chief is funny af i love their brotp the most!

A disclaimer on my end - as this is one of Priest’s older works, I feel like the explanation on what happened in the final showdown part is lacking. I talked about it briefly HERE regarding the angst of the novel and I still stand by what I said there. It was mostly funny for me when I read it bc Zhao Yunlan’s thirst is an entity of its own. And since a lot of you here already know, I’m a weaksht and cant handle angst so rest assured that anything I recommend has a happy ending~ 

BC IM SHAMELESS - i had my drama livethread HERE + novel livethread HERE + listen i love weilan sfm i gotta put small novel thoughts HERE

*****

If you’re a visual person like me, I suggest you watch the drama first or even select episodes (again, as I said I’m very bad at watching dramas bc i always fall asleep so at the latter half i ended up doing loads of ff esp since it’s barely useful in the novel). Here’s what’s non-negotiable - if you’ve watched the drama, you can’t not read the novel! It’s extremely waaay better! It fed me the reincarnation trope I thirsted for (im still shaking FIVE THOUSAND YEARS!!!!! and that shen san extra ahhhhhhh) and weilan’s characterization yoooo esp for Shen Wei whom we get to see is [redacted] and yet no matter what Zhao Yunlan would always [redacted]!!! istg this is the abriged version of my thoughts hahaha

[sundropscribbles]

Spoken For | Thirteen x Reader | 4.8K

Hello, my dears!! I’m back from the hustle and bustle of FanX with a brand new request, this time for a lovely anon! I’m going to try and get another one finished up tonight (fingers crossed!), but for now, I hope you enjoy this one. 🥰

You wouldn’t have called yourself a flirt.  Not in general terms, anyways, and certainly not if anyone had asked you directly. 

In fact, you’d have corrected anyone who forwardly presumed you to be flirtatious, because a much better word to describe you would have been kind.  You were warm and genuine and open with people and all manner of alien creatures alike, and it was something that you preferred people knew about you. You had never cared to withhold your kindness and compassion from anyone — not even folks that you had only just met — and it was always much nicer when those you interacted with weren’t put off by it. 

You had never associated this particular characteristic with flirting of any kind. However — unfortunately for you — your opinion on the matter definitely wasn’t a universal one. Your welcoming demeanor was often misinterpreted, and it often led you to conflict. Mistaking genuine kindness for flirtation wasn’t a habit exclusive to Earth, you had found, because it had continued to be an issue for you throughout your time traveling through space. 

It wasn’t a problem terribly often — or, rather, not many of the people you encountered pushed it to the point of being a problem.  Most of those your presence had an effect on would soften significantly in your presence, maybe even shoot you a wink or make a suggestive comment, but it didn’t typically progress beyond that. 

Typically. 

There was, of course, the occasional individual (read: the occasional egotistical drunkard, or high-and-mighty authority figure, or otherwise) who just couldn’t seem to take a hint.  

In most of these situations, The Doctor was at your side, ready to step in at a moment’s notice. Whenever someone got a little too comfortable or too forward she was there, happy to take your hand and kiss your cheek and run the person making insistent passes at you off.  

If you were honest, you had always found it just a little bit funny how much honest pleasure she took in giving out these blatant reminders.  Not that you didn’t appreciate it, it was just... The Doctor herself was quite the affectionate character, when it came right down to it, and if there was truth to any of the stories that you had heard both from her and from other people, she had a history of being quite the flirt — particularly when she had still been a man. It was because of this that you found it somewhat ironic that she was so enthusiastic in reminding others that you were, in fact, spoken for. 

Regardless, you appreciated her protective streak when all was said and done, because it  had saved you from confrontation on more than one occasion.

Today, though, she was rather preoccupied saving the ship that the pair of you had wound up traveling onboard from going up in flames, which meant that you were going to have to handle the, er — situation at hand on your own.  The whole thing was incredibly inappropriate in itself, and the fact that it was your significant other who was currently saving the lives of everyone onboard this bloke’s ship only made it even more so. 

“Feels a bit like doomsday, doesn’t it?” he says to you, with a smile on his face that alludes to something entirely unrelated to any sort of impending doom. 

“I s’pose it does,” you respond. You avoid looking at him directly; you’ve been dodging his passes for hours, now, and you can see where this conversation is going a mile away.  You have to have a laugh at your own expense, too, because sure — it probably did feel like doomsday to him, and to everyone else onboard the ship. To you, though? To you and The Doctor, who not more than a week ago had been diffusing a much more alarming situation involving a planet about to implode on itself, and cyborgs who had threatened to kill the both of you for interfering? A crashing ship was a walk in the park. “I wouldn’t worry, though — not really. The Doctor knows her stuff. She’ll have us sorted in no time.” 

The comment about The Doctor is a deliberate attempt on your part to discourage him. It’s not as though the pair of you are ever very subtle in your affections toward one another, after all, and there’s absolutely no way that he hasn’t noticed you holding her hand and kissing her cheek and tucking yourself in close to her side whenever the opportunity presents itself.  Quite unfortunately for you, though, he doesn’t seem to care.  He doesn’t even give a second thought to your comment, obviously, because he takes a blatant step closer to you and gently brushes his knuckles against your shoulder.  You know for a fact that no one onboard this ship has had anything to drink — at least nothing of an Earthly nature — but you can picture this man in a dive-bar with ease, a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other, hitting on anything in his immediate vicinity with the help of his tonic and gin. 

“I’m sure you’re right,” he says, doing all he can to keep up his air of nonchalance. “Still, though… systems failing, lives in the balance… makes you think, doesn’t it?” 

You sigh. “Doesn’t it just,” you mutter, and shuffle to the side (read: away from any further unwelcome touching) as subtly as you can. 

You try, again, to tune him out, this time by watching The Doctor from across the room. She’s flitting from person to person, giving them concise instructions and stopping at opportune moments to take care of the things that she can manage on her own.  It’s not very long before the shuddering of the ship has all but stopped, and you can’t help but smile. Even though you probably couldn’t even begin to explain what had been done to aid the situation, you always felt a satisfied warmth when you saw her in her element; helping whoever she was able to help, righting all of the wrongs in the universe she could without crossing any cosmic lines, etcetera etcetera. 

She’s just finished up adjusting one of a number of dials, tweaking one thing or another in the ship’s functionality, and in the next moment she looks away from the monitor that she’s had her focus on and glances your way.  She smiles as she meets your eyes, that warm, kind, “don’t you worry, love” smile, and you readily smile back at her, doing all you can to let her know that the last thing you’re worried about is the technological who’s-its and what’s-it’s that she’s busied herself with.  

It just so happens that in the same moment, the man you’ve been doing everything within reason to avoid decides to take his persistent flirtation a step further by wrapping one of his arms around your shoulders and effectively stopping you moving away from him. 

“And I was thinking,” he begins in a low voice, and you’re so taken aback by the forwardness of his actions that you actively lean away from him. “Perhaps you and I could take advantage of the situation… of whatever time we might have left, anyhow. What’dya say, hmm?”  

You scowl, certainly much more forwardly than you normally would, and take a pointed step away from him.  He drags his hand across your shoulders as you shake his grip, clearly not having thrown in the towel yet, and you do your best not to snap at him too harshly as you respond. 

“No,” you say bluntly. “I mean, thank you for the, er — compliment, but no thank you.” 

A sour expression crosses his face as he takes in what you’ve said, and he crosses his arms over his chest as he eyes you. 

“Can I ask why not?” he asks, as though he means to give any thought to what you might say on the matter. 

You’re about a minute away from bursting at the seams — from telling him exactly where he can shove his cheesy “doomsday” speech — when The Doctor pipes up from across the room. 

“Y/N, love,” she calls out, and you can plainly hear the hard edge in her voice. If you had been looking at her rather than at the pushy bloke beside you, you’d have seen the poorly-concealed scowl on her face, too, as she had watched you brush him off. “Could you come over here and help me with this for a quick mo’?” 

You stifle a smile, and turn her way without an ounce of hesitation.  While you aren’t exactly happy that she’s less than pleased, you’re more than grateful for her obvious annoyance.  Perhaps if your irritation at this bloke’s unwanted advances won’t get your point across, The Doctor’s will. 

“Of course,” you call back to her, and you don’t even spare your pouting suitor a glance as you turn and make a beeline toward your companion. You make a show of looking at one monitor and then another as you come to stand beside her; you know full-well that there likely isn’t very much you can actually do to improve the situation, and you know that The Doctor much more than likely doesn’t need your assistance at all, but the last thing you want to do is give the facade away to Mr. Quite-Literally-Couldn’t-Take-a-Hint-To-Save-His-Life.

“What can I do?” you ask her, regardless of what you already know.  The question is both to help keep your front up and an attempt to offer some real assistance (since standing uselessly at the center of a crowd of people who are busy saving the lives of all of those surrounding them isn’t exactly ideal). 

The Doctor smiles at you warmly. Even though she’s clearly still bothered at the entire situation, she certainly looks much more content with you at her side. 

“Just stay close, will you?” she says under her breath, and smiles at you as she goes back to what she’d been doing before she’d caught onto your predicament. You feel one of her hands brush along the dip of your waist as she steps away, and the touch is so soft and deliberate and visible that  your cheeks warm.  You continue to look over the data reading out on the monitors anyhow, for show if nothing else, but you’d have been lying through your teeth if you’d said that you hadn’t snuck a glance or two back toward the man who had been hassling you, smiling a very self-satisfied smile the entire time. 

————————

In the end, it doesn’t even take The Doctor an hour to get the ship’s engines sorted and her flight path back on track. You hadn’t expected anything less of her, obviously, but it still makes you unbelievably proud to see the looks of joy and relief on each and every passenger’s face when she announces that they’re all set to make it to their destination safely — and in perfect time, nonetheless. 

There’s a hug here, of course, and a kiss to her cheek there, but you don’t let it bother you. You’re certainly used to the outpouring of love that surrounds The Doctor, and generally speaking, she has such a presence that most are a bit too caught up in it all to even consider making any sort of romantic advance on her.  And besides, as cheesy as it had all been in context, Doomsday-Boy’s speech hadn’t been very far off; people staring impending doom in the face (and people suddenly rescued from that impending doom) could be... overly grateful, to say the least. 

And anyways, seeing The Doctor showered in so much love and adoration only made you more grateful that of all of the people she got to meet and save and care for every day, she had chosen to give the (much) better part of her love and adoration to you. 

Once she’s finished explaining to the pilot and co-pilot what exactly she’s done, and what they’ll both  need to do to keep it all on track she turns and makes her way back to your side, looking equal parts exhausted and pleased with the way that the whole situation had turned out.  There’s a smile on her face as she comes to stand at your side, one hand reaching out instinctively for yours. 

“Y’alright, love?” she asks, and you flash her a grin and give her hand a squeeze.  

“Perfectly,” you reassure her. You thread your fingers through hers and take another half a step closer to her, nuzzling your cheek against her shoulder. You’re well aware that your touchy-feely nature can be somewhat excessive, at times, but so long as she doesn’t mind (and she doesn’t — she never, ever has) you can’t truly bring yourself to care. She spends a great deal of time with other people, sure, but at the end of the day, you were the only one she invited to invade her personal space in this way, and you’d be damned if you took even a moment of it for granted.  

She’s just pressed her lips against your temple and begun to say something about the pair of you packing up and heading home, and you’re just getting ready to express your agreement by means of a sweet kiss when Doomsday Boy makes a reappearance — because, apparently, he sees it fit to intrude upon your warm, happy space for, oh, about the thousandth time in a handful of hours. 

“Well, it was lovely to meet you both,” he says, hands tucked into the pockets of his jumper and eyes blatantly fixed upon you. “Thanks for saving our hides, and all, Doc. And Y/N, it’s a bleedin’ shame we couldn’t — ah. Get to know one another any better. Next time, perhaps. Cheers.” 

He’s gone after that, but the interaction leaves a sour taste in your mouth nonetheless. You’re well aware that you’re scowling after him as he turns to walk away, because fuck — what an arse.

“I s’pose he just had to get the last word in, didn’t he,” you mutter, well and truly surprised that he hadn’t used The Doctor — or rather, your obviously affectionate attitude toward her — to continue flirting grossly. You could almost hear his whole schpeel in your head, and it made you a touch nauseous. “We’re so lucky to be alive — don’t you think the three of us should celebrate?”

God. 

You turn your attention back to your partner, then, ready to pick up where the two of you had left off. That doesn’t quite happen, though, because you find rather immediately that your scowl had been nothing compared to hers. 

She continues to stare after the bloke even after he’s tucked back into the small crowd of people still lingering about, and for a moment you weren’t entirely sure that she’s not about to stomp after him and give him a piece of her mind.  It wasn’t terribly often that you saw The Doctor angry — especially not at some random fellow who’d chosen to make a fuss — so it rather shocked you to see her looking so positively livid. 

“Doctor?” you said, soft, in an attempt to draw her attention back your way. Doomsday Boy wasn’t even close to worth making a scene over, surely, even if he did rather deserve The Doctor’s wrath in exchange for all of his ignorant behavior. 

She blinked upon hearing your voice, and though you had managed to keep her from giving anyone a good shout for the moment, she didn’t look any less annoyed when she turned to meet your gaze. 

“Yeah, sorry,” she murmured, and gave your hand a tight squeeze. “It’s just — blimey, they never stop, do they?” 

The frustration in her voice was clear as day, and the laughter that embellished her words was clearly forced out through her teeth.  You managed a gentle smile at her, shrugging your shoulders as you considered it. 

“I guess not, eh?” you muse. She makes an irritated sound, something between a grumble and a groan. You laugh despite yourself, bringing her hand to your lips and planting a warm kiss to the back of her palm. 

You can see her beginning to wallow in it, just a bit, so you take it upon yourself to distract her by any means possible. After all, if events have turned so that you’re allowed to be quite finished thinking about crashing ships and pushy arseholes, then it’s only fair that The Doctor has the same luxury. 

“C’mon, then — we don’t have to go back to the TARDIS just yet, do we?” you suggest, and The Doctor blinks. 

“I suppose not,” she says, looking rather surprised. “I mean, this wasn’t exactly the place I planned to bring you, because, well, you know — shoot for the Glistening Forests of Parishe and occasionally you’ll land onboard a commuter ship between here and there. And it is just a commuter ship, so there’s not terribly a lot to see, unfortunately.” 

You watch her closely as she talks, smiling a private smile the entire time. Her mood is already bouncing back and it’s delightful to see, so you go ahead and continue egging it on. 

“Maybe not, but most commuter ships have view decks, don’t they? That’d be rather stunning. We might even be able to see the forests from above,” you say, giving her a gentle nudge. “I know it’s not the entire forest, but we’ve already saved the day once, and it’ll be a fantastic view with easy access to the TARDIS, yeah?” 

You’ve not even finished speaking before you see the agreement settle over her, and the moment she nods her head, you lean in close to her and kiss the corner of her mouth, just as you’d been about to do when you’d been interrupted. 

“Let’s go, then,” you say, and it’s then that she smiles, too. You’re on you’re way soon after, and you can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief the moment you’re out of the room and away from the noisy crowd of passengers.  It’s never not a relief, you think, to be able to step away from the hustle and bustle at the end of the day and have a nice, quiet moment with The Doctor — especially as rare as quiet moments with her tended to be. 

The view deck that you had asked about is just a few doors away, as it turns out, and to improve upon the idea even more, there‘s a small seating area just near the paneled windows.  Its couches are soft and white and cushiony, and you hurry toward them, pulling The Doctor along with you as you go.  You fall into the cushions happily, and you’re still grinning as you gesture for her to follow suit.  She laughs softly, bending to your will (as she often does) and falling in beside you. She presses in close to your side and you loop an arm around her shoulders, more than happy to have her snuggled up against you. 

Both of you are quiet for a time after that, and by the time The Doctor speaks again, you’ve closed your eyes. The view is absolutely astounding, all shimmering purples and silvers and cascades of stars, but the day has been long, and the cozy nature of it all isn’t lost on you. 

“I’m sorry for being so cross,” she says suddenly. You open your eyes with a sleepy blink and shift just enough to look at her. There’s a concerned crease in your brow as you take in her expression, which is a genuinely sheepish thing. “I didn’t mean to get so embarrassingly green in the face, it was just — that man—” 

You cut her off with a shake of your head, smiling warmly as you brush a strand of blonde hair back from her eyes. 

“Oh, don’t apologize, love,” you tell her, and she blinks. “I understand, and honestly? That man was a complete prat. I probably should have let you smack him around a bit.” 

She snorts and rolls her eyes at that, sitting up a bit straighter in favor of looking at you more directly. 

“I wouldn’t have smacked him around. You know me — violence really isn’t my thing,” she argues, and you acknowledge her with a purse of your lips and a shrug. “I might’ve just — shouted at him a bit.” 

“Or a lot,” you tease, and she barks out a laugh. 

“Alright, yeah, a lot,” she admits, and you giggle. She retaliates by giving your hip a playful pinch, which makes you squeak softly. “It just — it makes me absolutely bloody crazy, these people who think it’s perfectly alright to walk all over you, right? You’re so kind, Y/N, too kind for your own good sometimes, and they just — they just use it! I can’t stand it.” 

You watch her closely as she rants, unable to help but feel incredibly warm and soft inside as you watch the protective side of her burst out hotly, like so many of the shooting stars zipping past the ship. 

“—and the ones like him, who you’re obviously, actively pushing away, who know that you’re spoken for, they just — they just! Ooh,” she grumbles, obviously still fired up. You swallow hard, and as she meets your gaze, all flush-cheeked and wild-eyed and just a little jealous, you bite back a soft noise. You don’t think you can be blamed for the fiery swell of attraction bursting from within your ribcage — not a bit.  It’s just — she’s just — 

“They just..?” you urge her on once you’ve caught your breath. Her eyelashes flutter, then, and she seems to catch your flustered expression, because her eyes go just a bit darker. 

“They make me want to show them exactly how spoken for you are,” she says, low, and you lose your breath all over again. 

It’s not another second before her arms encircle your waist, gripping you like a vice as she ducks forward and catches your lips with hers. The fire that you had seen in her eyes while she had spoken comes through in her kiss, and you can hardly help but whimper into it as she pulls you impossibly closer. 

You swing one of your legs across her lap as you lean into it, straddling her thighs while she busies herself biting and mouthing at your bottom lip. You brace yourself with one hand on either side of her, but you’re quick to melt against her the moment she tucks her hands into the back pockets of your trousers. Another handful of seconds later she’s pressing her body up against yours, and you’re more than pliant when she turns the tables, scooping you up and laying you back against one arm of the sofa.  You take ahold of her coat at either side and give it a determined shove backwards, and she grins as you do so, letting it fall from her shoulders as she settles atop you. You kick it aside as you wrap your legs around her waist, and you hear it hit the floor with a soft thump just as you tangle your hands up in her soft hair and drag her into another lusty kiss. 

She’s just broken away and leaned to one side so that she can effectively place a love bite just behind your ear, and you’ve just  begun to tug at her braces when there’s a peculiar sound from the back of the room, near the doorway. 

You ignore it for a short time, and The Doctor seems to do the same, so you don’t bother to stop what you’re doing (which, at the current moment, consists of breathing a shaky sigh and doing your damndest not to groan while The Doctor leaves a little trail of bruises along your pulse point.) It’s not until the sound gets more persistent that you even pay it any mind, and even then, you make the conscious decision to focus your attention on tugging The Doctor’s tee-shirt free from her high-waisted trousers rather than the squeaky-wheel-esc noise.  You’ve managed to pull both tee and under-shirt about halfway up her midriff (and accidentally dislodged her braces entirely in the process) when you hear the sound again, much louder this time, followed by an irritatingly familiar voice. 

“Do you mind?” asks none other than Doomsday-Boy, and the moment you realize what it is going on you let your head fall back against the arm of the couch let loose a groan of an entirely different nature.  You’re just about ready to lay into him, but before you can say anything The Doctor jumps at the chance. She rights herself (and you let her), and the look on her face is like ice. 

“Well, you certainly didn’t mind, did you?” she says, and you watch with interest as he shrinks in his place. “I definitely don’t recall you minding, oh, an hour or so ago, when Y/N told you they weren’t interested in what you were offering, and you decided it was alright to go ahead and keep on making them uncomfortable.”

Doomsday Boy’s face goes as red as an apple at that, and you can’t help but snicker at the sight of it.  You had been right on every account, earlier, when you had decided that it could be rather amusing to see The Doctor knock this bloke down a peg. 

“I didn’t mean anythin’ by it,” he argues weakly, and The Doctor scoffs. 

“S’not the point, though, is it? Point is, you didn’t bother thinking about anyone but yourself just then.  So unless you can make a bloody compelling argument for yourself, I don’t see why either of us should be bothered by your discomfort,” she points out, and chooses that particular moment to cast a glance your way, as if encouraging your input.  As your gaze shifts from her face to that of one very embarrassed Doomsday Boy, and you find that he’s looked your way as well, you cock one eyebrow and nod his way. 

“You heard her,” you say, and he becomes visibly uncomfortable at that.  He scratches at the back of his neck, shifts his weight from one foot to the other, and averts his gaze. There’s something terribly gratifying about all of it, and you’re more than happy to take advantage of his humiliation. “I think the least you can do give us is the room.” 

He doesn’t actually say anything in response to your suggestion, but the sheepish way that he nods and turns on his heel to hightail it out of the room is more than enough to have you collapsing into a brief fit of laughter.  You’re positive that he probably hears you loud and clear, but you can’t bring yourself to care; especially not once The Doctor turns a surprised gaze on you. She only waits a moment before she leans in close once more, laughing brightly as well as she presses a kiss to your shoulder. 

“What’re you so chipper about?” she asks, and you bite your lip as you stifle your laughter against the back of your hand.  It takes you a moment to collect yourself, you’ll admit, but you shake your head once you’ve managed to stop giggling, smiling delightedly as you rest your head back against the sofa once more.  

“Oh, nothing. It’s nothing,” you muse, though it’s not another second before another bit of soft laughter betrays you. “It’s just — well, you sort of did exactly what you said you fancied doing, didn’t you?” 

The Doctor brightens at that, breathing a quiet sigh as she lowers herself to her elbows once again and rests atop you warmly.

“Yeah, well. He had it coming, didn’t he?” she insists, and you snort as you brush a hand through her hair. “And if m’honest, it was a bit intentional on my part. I might have caught a glimpse of him walking into the room well before he chose to interrupt. And I might have chosen not to care.” 

Her confession surprises a laugh out of you, and you tickle her side in a playful manner.  It causes her to jump, and you narrow your eyes as you meet her gaze. 

“You’re scandalous, you are,” you tease, and she levels you with a wonderfully mischievous smile. 

“Oh, you love it,” she says, and leans over the edge of the couch in favor of reaching into the pocket of her coat, which still lies in a heap on the floor. 

“Of course I do,” you agree, watching fondly as she rights herself once more, this time so that she can point her sonic at the door that Doomsday Boy had (quite rudely) left wide open. 

With one quick buzz the door swings shut and locks.  The Doctor tosses her sonic aside, then, and neither of you hesitate to pick up exactly where you left off, any previous interruptions be damned. 

[gintokissilverbells]

The First Time

Pairing: Kawakami Bansai x Female Reader

Warning: A little angsty and a bit of fluffy/semi-romantic?? moments. A bit of a sad past, but I promise it gets better! I think...

TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of family death and grieving (break down??).

Summary: When misfortune befell on you; you were given a chance to seek revenge against those who wronged you, but you got a bit more than what you bargained.

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: AAAHHH!! My first request!! I’m not gonna lie, I panicked a little when I got this request. (I deleted it by accident, but hey I got a screenshot of it). Sorry that I took a bit of time. I got carried away when writing this request. It was supposed to be short but I ended up getting into it, and I ended up editing some things out because this WASN’T MEANT TO BE SAD WTF... Anyhow, my writing is still improving and my grammar isn’t the best, but I will definitely edit this out for any grammar mistakes on a later date.

To the Anony: Thank you sweet pea for your well wishes!!! It makes me happy knowing someone out there is looking forward to this request. I hope this lived up to your expectations, or at least grazed your expectations a little. I hope to hear more of your asks if you wish to send some more.

- Mrs. Sakata

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Life has a funny way of turning sour things to sweet, and vice-versa. You never know when the wrong side of the coin will land on top, or when misfortune befalls on you.

You lived a comfortable life as the daughter of the shogun’s top general. Your upbringing and education were of the best quality, and your family were loving and supportive. As your family tradition dictated, every direct descendent of the family’s main branch were required to learn the art of the sword and martial arts.

You excelled at whatever given tasks, and even advanced to learning strategy and war tactics from your father himself. You were the perfect only daughter of the (y/l/n) clan, and the one who was given the hope of surpassing your father’s intellect and strategy. Your growing connections with the wealthy, the politicians, and influential people were making you a reliable future head of the family.

Until the day misfortune befell on your family, and ultimately on you.

The greatest and exemplarily man of your life had slipped up, and he and all of your family paid for it. The man who you called your father was found guilty of treason against the Bakufu by aiding various Jouishi extremist groups with supplies, investments, and most importantly, weapons. The most notable extremists of them all, the Kiheitai. The Army of the Demon Soldiers. By aiding these extremists, your father was taken and executed along with most of your family and servants.

Escaping with only your father’s precious sword, the (y/l/n) clan’s former glory and status had all but plummeted. You were all alone and being persecuted, with only a sword to really call your own.

Then you stumbled on the very people your father was helping with overthrowing the Bakufu. You don’t know what really happened, or how you became to join the Kiheitai officially. It was all a blur, a lot of noise, and a lot to process. Yet, you found yourself sitting amongst the dangerous leaders of the group instead of being forced to death by your family’s killers.

You found yourself quickly introduced into the ranks before you had completely assimilated the absence of your family. It was too much all at once, and to add to it, the mastermind behind her rescue was no other than the Kiheitai’s leader: Takasugi Shinsuke.

It was no secret to you—or to anyone—for the reason of your recruitment. He knew he had lost a valuable backer and spy with the death of your father—and he made it known that even if this setback their plans slightly—he still intended on using you and your connections amongst those who are willing to back the Kiheitai. And you willingly allowed it to happen. After all, the Bakufu were the reason for you losing everything that was dear to you, and you were not going to rest until you saw the corrupt organization burned to the ground.

Of course, ideals are all good and pure up until the dirty work came around. It wasn’t all sunshine and daisies, nor was it easy to work with experienced soldiers, tacticians, and assassins. Being second-guessed, fighting for your position, and defending yourself against the toughness of ral life; you were quickly maturing to a level you never imagined you will reach. Where once you were amongst the rich, now you were there amongst real people, real suffering, and real pain. You weren’t the spoiled brat that was able to defeat your father in a game of war anymore. You were someone else now, and you weren’t quite sure what that meant beyond the revenge you seek for your family, and for your father.

Amongst everything that happened; there was a silent supporter amongst some of the opposition you faced. He was quiet, always hearing his music and seemingly ignoring his surroundings. When listening to something he particularly liked, he will bob his head to the beat and make his teal green hair flutter with the movement. When you first arrived at their main base of operation, he was the one who silently guided you through the Kiheitai ranks and guided you to a new beginning for a new you. Your first impression of him did not go beyond that of a good-looking man and wondering what type music he was listening to. Now, he was a mentor of sorts, and you often accompany him in negotiations and transactions made between the extremists and Amanto mercenaries.

Now, in your current present, you were sitting by yourself in one of the observatory rooms of the ship. You saw the stars pass by you as the ship sailed into the black void. As you looked on, you held the last memento of your family close to you. Scattered around you were products that you needed to clean your father’s sword, and you ceremonially cleaned it with respect and care.

You hadn’t noticed there was someone else in the room.

Going on about your business, the man you thought about lately stood next to you. Looking up in surprise, you saw him keep his gaze on the sparkling stars. There was silence between you two, not awkward, but pure and simple silence. As you were about to go back to your cleaning and maintenance, you saw him settle down next to you after taking off his shamisen from his back and holding the instrument on his lap. At first, there was a pregnant pause before he spoke,

“Have you’ve gotten used to life here?”

It was a random question and so very out of the ordinary for him. He wasn’t a shy man, and he had no trouble speaking, but often enough he just chose not to. You knew him as being quiet and usually did not initiate any conversation unless he found some interest on what he saw or heard. Most of the time, when it was just you two, you will be the one to start the conversation. It was always work related though.

“You can say that… It is better than what fate and the Bakufu had in store for me back then,” You answered as you ran a soft rag over the long blade of your father’s katana.

“­­Are you comfortable?”

You looked at him quizzically, but you indulged him with an answer,

“Yes…”

“…You sound unsure.”

Bansai looked at you through his maroon rimmed shades. His light brown eyes staring right at your soul and maybe your inner thoughts. You sighed, looking away from him in hopes he took the hint and dropped the future topic. You really did not want to talk about your state of comfort to him with his weird interrogation/caring questioning. Instead, you decided to busy yourself looking at the stars and questioning him,

“Bansai-sama, with all due respect, what brings you here? I doubt you came to question me about trivial things as the state of my comfort.”

You didn’t mean to be rude or trying to get rid of his presence. You were merely questioning his motives. After all, this was extremely out of his character.

Without missing a beat, the man ignored your question and repeated his statement,

“You sound unsure.”

You sighed and turned to look at him. He seemed to have not moved at all from the position you last saw him in. His staring became a bit more intense, and finally you gave in after having a small staring match with him. With a sigh, you looked down at your sword and found your face being reflected on it.

“It’s not that I’m unsure. I am comfortable. I have food, a place to sleep, and a roof above my head. There is no need to worry about that. It’s just… I guess I just miss what I had…”

You paused. This is the first time you had ever talked to him about a personal matter… or to anyone to begin with. You were always busy with something else or making meetings with potential backers and the such. There was no real time to worry about comfort, or to remember. To remember what you took for granted, and how much you missed it. 

Clearing your throat, you smiled forcefully and looked towards the man next you,

“Do not worry about me, Bansai-sama. I will be alright. You don’t have to worry about my performance or my ability to complete my duties. I will follow through our goal to my very end.”

Bansai stared back, and for a few moments the emotions in his eyes shifted into something soft before going back to being passive. Observing her as if she was something hard to understand.

Looking away with an embarrassed soft blush, you returned to cleaning your sword. At this point, you were just trying to make yourself busy rather than cleaning the sword. It was already clean to begin with.

A soft sigh came out from the man next to you before he spoke up,

“I had passed by to see if the room was empty. I was wrong, obviously… When I saw it was you… You held a sad expression.”

You almost didn’t catch the last part of his sentence, but for some reason it still rang in your ears loud and clear. A little stunned, you stared at him with a slightly confused face; mouth slightly agape. 

This was the first time he had expressed any concern for you. Ever.

He looked down on his instrument and prepared himself to play it. Ignoring your existence for a moment, he started to play a tune. This was also the first time you heard the instrument being played in such proximity. Almost like a private concert. You were entranced by it at first, the movement of his skilled calloused hands and the concentrated expression he held on his face made him look different to you.

This was different from his usual demeanor.

Finishing up, he finally opened his eyes and looked at you. A little mesmerized you complimented him,

“That was amazing... so beautiful.” 

He widen his eyes and his cheeks only so slightly turned pink, but he didn’t turn away from you. 

“Thank you.”

You smiled a little before looking at the glass window, the black nothingness outside peppered with stars. The silence that transpired between you two stayed liked that for a few moments, and you decided to speak again, 

“Father would’ve thrown a fit if he saw me following his footsteps. He would’ve for sure locked me in my room and tell me to study instead of playing with fire.”

She smiled down on your sword with a wistful expression. Raising it up, you let the light gleam on it’s sharp edge, “He often told me stories of the Joui wars, the amanto invasion, and how he served the Bakufu despite everything... The look on his eyes... they were those of a guilty man in a nightmare. I should’ve guessed his intentions from the very beginning.”

Your eyes started to water, and you let the sword rest on your lap. Biting your lips, you hid from the gaze of Bansai as you spoke again, “He wanted a different future for me... Ah dang it, I’m sorry... it’s been a few months and it still hurts so much... I don't even know what I am saying anymore. Forget-”

His voice interrupted you, “Instead of forgetting... and pretending to be strong in front of a man who also has known lose, you should remember the good and the bad times and let the tears flow. Do not pretend that it did not happen, it will only hurt more and for a longer time than what you will wish for. Instead, take it as the driving force to what makes you now, and what drives you to move forward. As twisted the path is, it is still forward. That is what (Y/Father’s/N)-dono would’ve said, I daresay.”

You were biting your lips so hard, you were sure to draw blood from them if you kept on trying to hold back the tears. A few traitor ones slipped by and finally a gasp for air was heard from you. Then there it was, you felt the few awkward comforting taps on your shoulder. You slowly turned your head to the only other person in the room, your eyes meeting slowly, a small hiccup leaving your lips before...

“... Bansai-sama? Are you alright?... You look... constipated.”

The man’s expression looked like it was in that sort of pain when you know it’s there but you can’t push it out because you think your whole existence will go with it. You know, THAT pain? Well that’s the look he had. 

Bansai looked at you with a dangerous glare as you mentioned it to him. Removing his hand quickly, you couldn’t help but snort before starting to laugh even with the snot clogging your nose.

The tears you tried to hide became those of laughter, and the look that Bansai gave you was enough for you to die down a little. Cleaning a tear away, you sighed when you finally completely stopped.

“I needed that. Thank you Bansai-sama.” You gave him the brightest smile you could and he returned a semi-soft one in return.

“This is the first time I see you smile like that...” You gave him a surprised look, cheeks flushed, but nevertheless you gave him another one. You felt lax, and a little lighter. The hurt was still there, but the pain was easier to bear today than yesterday.

He held a smile as well, not as expressive, but definitely reached his passive eyes. This was the first time you saw him show so much emotions to you, and you felt a different connection to him from the one that had transpired earlier.

There was always a first time for everything, and that time in the observatory was the first time to a blooming relationship.

[doctorgerth]

Prompt Winner #2

Prompt: “I fucking love you.” “Hang up, and tell me this when you’re sober.”

Description: Jealousy and drunk confessionals; fluff (with a lil bit of angst/nsfw) with Shanks and female s/o

Rating: 90% fluff // 9% angst // 1% nsfw 

Warning: mild cursing, brief nsfw 

Note: I went a lil angsty (cuz I’m mega angsty) but also tried to keep this fluffy per the winner’s request! Sorry if it’s extra cheesy, Shanks is a cheesy guy imo so I felt like it was fitting. Hope you enjoy! x 

Sober (Shanks)

Prompt Story 

Not her. Why her?

(Name)'s brain wracked for any logical reasoning behind Shanks's approval of that bimbo's incessant flirting. It wasn't as if he were flirting back, necessarily. To anyone else it would probably seem so, but she knew Shanks's ways. He was way too nice of a guy, way too friendly, and right now, way too accepting of another woman's advances. It was pissing her off.

"Oh, Shanks, you're so funny! Buy me another!" The boisterous woman proclaimed, obviously making sure everyone in the bar could hear her flirting with the Red-Haired Shanks.

Oh, Shanks, you're so funny hehehe give me your dick please because I'm a thirsty, desperate hoe (Name) mocked to herself, rolling her eyes and taking a big swig of her choice of drink for the night. Maybe if she ordered about six more of those she could forget about this whole ordeal. That sounded like a plan.

"You're mocking her now? Seriously? Are you a child?" The bartender, (Name)'s best friend, questioned with a raised brow, scoffing a little. (Name) sighed, shoving her empty glass over to her friend as a silent request for another drink. Her friend sighed in return, reaching towards the shelf to pour her another. They both knew this was going to be a long night.

"I just don't get it. Why is he letting her be all over him like that? Why is he buying her all those drinks and keeping her so close to him? Doesn't he realize she's just trying to get in his pants? She's just flirting with him because of his status!" (Name) yelled in a hushed tone, trying to not bring attention to her ranting.

"And why does that bother you so much?" (Name)'s friend questioned with a hint of sarcasm, rubbing a wet rag onto a dirty spot on the counter.

"Because!" (Name) peered behind her to see Shanks smiling away with his friends, enjoying the music and the booze to his heart's content. His eyes caught her own and somehow, his smile managed to grow even wider at the connection. His teeth practically glistened under the bar lights, cheeks threatening to burst from his extra cheesy smile. She smiled back, halfheartedly, offering a small wave before she turned back to her friend, a tint of red on her cheeks. (Name)'s friend chuckled to herself at her helplessly in love best friend.

"Because he's so much more than that! Shanks is so much more than a pretty face and a gorgeous smile. He's so much more than an infamous pirate or a fearsome Warlord. He's Shanks. The kindhearted man who'd do anything to help even a random stranger out. The one who'd risk his life to protect those he loved, those he cared about." A smile suddenly appeared on her face, "Not to mention he's an absolute dork who can literally laugh at anything. He lives to make people laugh and smile. He's so fun-loving and compassionate and adventurous and just so great. He deserves so much more than these cheap women who are only after him because of his power. He deserves someone who loves him for who he truly is, someone who would love him no matter his status. He deserves..."

"You know what he deserves the most?" (Name)'s friend interrupted, wiping away casually at an empty glass. (Name)'s eyes widened for a moment, intrigued by her friend's question, "He deserves to hear those words from you himself. He's not gaining anything by you telling me your feelings, you need to tell him how you feel. Don't you think he deserves that?"

(Name)'s head drooped, forehead dropping rather harshly onto the cold wood of the bar, "Yeah, you're probably right..." she muttered, "but he deserves so much better than me."

*

The remaining five drinks went down with ease as (Name) and her friend attempted to talk about anything else other than Shanks for a little while. The bar filled up as the night when on, so (Name) was left to her own devices while her friend served customers. As she took the last sip of her sixth drink, the shrill, obnoxious laughter of the woman at Shanks's table was beginning to give her a headache. She was drunk, irritated, and just emotionally exhausted, so (Name) decided to head home for the night.

"Let me know when you make it, okay?" Her friend waved while (Name) offered a sloppy thumbs up before stumbling out the door. Should she have said something to Shanks before leaving? Probably, she knew he would be worried about her leaving without a single word. It was his party after all, and she of course had a personal invitation from the red head himself. Nevertheless, she had avoided him all night due to insecurities, so of course he was already concerned. In her drunk selfish state, that's exactly what she wanted.

Shanks watched with sad eyes as (Name) waltzed out, not even looking back at him once on her way out the door. He quietly excused himself from the table to go talk to (Name)'s friend, "Hey, is (Name) alright?"

She couldn't contain the smile that graced her lips, he looked absolutely worried for her friend and for a moment, she wondered if (Name) had any reason to doubt Shanks's feelings for her in the first place. There was something there after all, she had noticed his wandering eyes searching for (Name)'s all night. Of course, (Name) was too stubborn, and drunk, to see that.

"Yeah, she's just heading home. She'll be fine." She responded.

Shanks looked out the door once more, perhaps hoping she would return to at least say goodnight to him, "Oh, well alright. Thanks for letting me know." As he turned to walk away, in a moment of desperation, (Name)'s friend reached for his arm without thinking.

"Hey, Shanks?" Her voice was hardly above a whisper now, leaning close towards the man.

"Yeah?" He responded, getting a little anxious at her sudden seriousness.

There was an awkward pause for a moment as (Name)'s friend contemplated her next words. She wouldn't dare confess her friend's feelings, but perhaps something more subtle would grab his attention.

"(Name)'s a great girl, ya know." Her eyes peered to the woman that had been glued to Shanks all night. She was laughing away, seemingly targeting Benn with her flirtations for the moment, though he showed zero interest in anything she had to say.

He didn't even have to follow her eyes to know who she was staring at or even what she was referring to. A smile spread across his face at her words, and he responded with a reassuring nod, confirming every aching question she had screaming in her brain, "I know. She's the best."

* The walk home hardly took any time as (Name) lived close by, but it felt like eons due to her dreary state of mind. She stumbled up the stairs into her apartment room, keys jingling so loudly as she fumbled with the door knob that her head pounded. As she made her way in, a welcoming meow from her cat startled her for a moment, but she was finally at home, finally at peace. That was until she noticed the den-den mushi seemingly waiting for her beside her couch.

She plopped down onto her stomach among her couch, staring at the phone with squinted eyes. Her hand reached out hesitantly, then retreated back as if she were about to touch a hot stove. Her heart was screaming call him but her gut was begging her to literally do anything else. Well, she was never great at listening to her gut instincts, anyhow.

Her shaky fingers stumbled with the dial, almost dialing the wrong number, but she knew his number by heart from the day he gave it to her. Shanks and his crew had been on a bit of vacation along her island for a few months now. He frequented her best friend's bar, which was where they met. He was a bit drunk and gave her his number one night, and she took it as innocent flirting as she soon realized that was merely his personality. But that didn't stop her from calling him at late hours of the night, the pair sharing rather interesting conversations while he was stowed away on his ship and she was cozy in her apartment. They called each other pretty much every night, and there wasn't a night, that she could remember anyway, where they didn't end it with a simple, but meaningful, goodnight.

The ringing of the snail brought her back to her senses, making the situation suddenly feel absolutely real to her. It took three rings before that familiar husky voice answered with a small hello.

Silent, stunned, no words escaped her lips for quite some time. Why she was so surprised he actually picked up, she wasn't too sure. He always answered her calls, but this was the first time she silently prayed he wouldn't.

"(Name)?" He questioned, concern clear in his voice.

She clumsily twirled the cord of the den den mushi between her fingers, biting her lip to prevent her from saying something completely idiotic, but the words spilled forth anyway.

"I fucking love you." She stated, her words slurred together a bit, but she meant it with every fiber of her being. She loved him when she was drunk, she loved him when she was sober, and she loved him during every moment in between. She knew she would have to tell him someday, as he wouldn't remain here forever. Her already heated cheeks somehow ignited to even warmer temperatures as she awaited his response.

It was his turn to offer her silence. The only sound heard was his steady breathing and the bouncing of her nervous thighs. Without another sound, he responded, "Hang up, and tell me this when you're sober."

For a moment, her heart sank to the pits of her stomach. She had tried so desperately to mentally and emotionally prepare herself for rejection, this was rejection, right?

"Goodnight, (Name)." He muttered before hanging up the phone.

Goodnight? At first, she dismissed his goodnight as a mere end to the conversation. It took a moment for his words to sink in, and when they did, her heart nearly burst from her chest. A relieved smile spread across her face. She was still a drunken mess, but the smile that graced her lips was genuine, endearing. She couldn’t wait to be sober again.

*

No hangover could stop (Name) from making her way down to the bar, practically running towards her destination. Her head ached at the brightness of the sunlight, pounding with every step she took, but she had to see him. She was fully sober now, a little nervous, but also eager to be with him again.

The bar doors slammed open, catching everyone's attention for a moment. Normally having everyone's attention on her would have her running for cover, but all that mattered was the red-head sitting at his usual table. Their eyes met and Shanks offered her a playful smirk as he watched her walk over to him confidently. He stood from his chair, easily towering over her figure, but it didn't scare her.

"Ahh, (Name)! Now, what was it you had to tell me?" Shanks questioned, acting like the same fool she fell in love with months ago. A silly smile warmed his face as he awaited in anticipation to hear her say those three words.

She grabbed the collar of his shirt instead, dragging his lips down to her tippy-toe level, "Come here, idiot." (Name) smiled before pulling his lips onto hers in a harsh yet passionate lip lock. His arm wrapped around her waist, instinctively pulling her up into him, lips graciously accepting her ravenous kisses with warmth and love. He picked her up, her legs wrapping around his waist while he easily held her in place, their lips never ceasing for even second.

The bar erupted into cheers, a few women scoffed and left the bar, but none of it mattered to either of them as everything was so clear now.

"I love you." She muttered in between kisses, "I fucking love you, Shanks."

He smiled widely at her words, heart pounding at hearing them, he could hear her say it forever, "I love you more, silly. Took ya long enough.”

This beautiful moment was of course an easy excuse to celebrate, the captain had fallen in love! So the crew threw another grand party, and though the party was quite obviously for the two of them, Shanks and (Name) made a point to make time for themselves; a private moment to really show just how much they loved each other. 

After hours of passionate love-making, the pair remained in his bed, sweaty legs tangled together in the sheets, lips trailing lazy kisses along each other’s skin. 

“Come with me.” He whispered lovingly, his soft lips tickling at the sensitive bruised skin of her neck, “Just stay like this with me, forever.”

She offered him a tired smile, but responded genuinely, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

He snuggled her body closer to him as if it were even possible, content with her response, beyond happy to have her as his finally, “Now I can tell you goodnight, every single night, with you right here in my arms.”

[tedwoodward]

Schrödinger

Summary: Ted takes Charlotte to a local diner to help distract her from thinking about Sam

Note: inspired by this post

tw for a very brief mention of dieting and wanting to lose weight

read on ao3

“Ugh, seriously? Why does EVERYONE suddenly want coffee at the same fucking time today?” Ted groaned as he walked into the office kitchen to see that a line had formed as a new pot of coffee was being brewed.

“I just need one more cup to get me through these reports for Mr. Davidson,” sighed Paul from the end of the line, twiddling his thumbs on his coffee mug.

Ted rolled his eyes and took a seat at the table. No way was he going to stand around in line with four other people getting coffee in front of him. He was not patient enough for this.

He brought his arm up, checking the time on his watch: 3:48. Huffing, Ted contemplated how much he truly wanted this coffee. Then again, it was an excuse to get away from his computer and the stale air in his cubicle, so he stayed.

He turned his attention back to his coworkers to hear a conversation being continued that he must have interrupted with his entrance. And, boy, was tuning back in a mistake on his part.

“But, no, man, you’re forgetting the timeframe thing. That’s like the whole point of Schrödinger’s Cat. By a specific point not only will the radioactive isotope decay, forcing the poison to kill the cat, but if you leave it in there long enough, the cat’s gonna starve! So if you’re inactive and apolitical for a long period of time, you’re solidifying the fate of the cat.”

“Dude, the ‘whole point’ of Schrödinger’s Cat is that because you don’t know when exactly the decay is going to occur, there is a time when the cat is both alive and dead before you check on it. You’re looking at it the complete wrong way. It’s not talking about whether the cat is gonna survive or not. But either way, it’s not a real cat, so who cares?”

“I’m not saying the cat’s real, I’m saying this works for other situations in addition to quantum mechanics.”

“Okay, yeah, but you’re clearly misinterpreting it. Just find another analogy for whatever you’re saying at this point—”

By the time Ted got his coffee, he was going to explode. If it was possible for your eyes to pop out of your head just from rolling them, Ted would have gone blind the second those two opened their mouths. His loud sighs and glares had done nothing to dissuade them from continuing their nerdy argument. Ted now needed a break from his break.

Leaving the idiots in the kitchen, he decided to take a lap round the office, stretch out his legs, you know. He just so happened to pass by Charlotte as she was on the phone, ending a call. Ted decided to take a detour over to her desk just because it had been a while since he had last bugged her. Not because of any additional reason, no sirree.

He lingered a few feet from her station, sipping at his coffee as he waited for her to finish the call. He might be an asshole, but he wasn’t gonna interrupt a conversation with a client. And maybe he just wanted to look at her for a second. Not in a creepy way, just in a… Ted way. Okay, not like the usual Ted way that is also creepy. Just in a… way.

“Al-alright, well, I love you. And I’ll see you later tonight then, sweetheart.” Charlotte hung up the phone, letting out a deep sigh.

“Y’know, I don’t think you’re supposed to take personal calls on these phones,” Ted said as he sauntered over to her desk, startling Charlotte from her daze.

“Oh! Ted. Well, you know Sam…” She didn’t offer any further explanation. She stared off into space for a moment, looking at nothing in particular, and after a moment she seemed to shake herself out of it. “Well, I better get back to work.” She tried to busy herself, but Ted stopped her by moving even closer to her and setting his mug on her desk.

With one hand on the back of her chair, one hand on his hip, and a foot kicked over the other, he leaned down to speak closer to her ear. “So… no plans after work it sounds like?”

Charlotte glanced in Ted’s direction, “Well, Sam won’t be getting back till late this evening. Sudden extra work-load.” Something felt off, but he tried again.

“Hm. Sounds like you have a few free hours then,” Ted smirked at her, a sly smile spreading across his face.

Charlotte wasn’t meeting his eyes. His smile faltered. Normally she would continue the banter or at least push him away if she wasn’t down for it. Something was wrong.

“Charlotte?” He asked, the amount of sincerity in his voice shocking even him. “Hey, is everything alright?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, everything’s fine, just fine.” Ted could see her fingers twitching for a cigarette and knew there was an issue she wasn’t telling him about.

“Is it Sam?” He hazarded a guess. “C’mon, you know you can’t lie to me.”

Charlotte turned her chair to properly face him, Ted no longer leaning against her. She slowly brought her face up to meet his eyes, and he could see they were red.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing, but…” she sniffled and looked away. “Oh, well, when I was on the phone with Sam, I-. Oh, this is going to sound crazy, but I��I could hear that… he wasn’t at work. And-and-and I know that’s stupid, because he isn’t always at the precinct during the day; that’s part of his job, but…. And I may just be imagining things, but… I’m not certain he was on duty. A-and I’m pretty sure I heard some… strange music. That kind of modern, young pop music? Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but that’s just not Sam’s music. And I, well—”

“Hey, hey, hey, Charlotte?” She stopped stuttering through her explanation and returned Ted’s gaze. He looked at her for a moment. “So, you think he’s with Her again, huh?”

She looked away. With her eyes closed, she nodded minutely, trying to control her breathing.

“Well, hey. Fuck him, all right? He doesn’t know what he’s missing out on. He’s an asshole anyways. He doesn’t deserve you.” That last part slipped out, and Ted looked away. Charlotte blushed as he tried to sweep that moment under the rug. “You know what? You need a distraction. Let’s grab dinner after we’re done today.” Ted looked at Charlotte as her gaze finally met his again.

This was new. They had never really done anything… non-sexual before. Their relationship to this point had been originally one-sided advances and flirtatious behavior from Ted up until Charlotte out of the blue took him up on the offer. Since then it’s all just been sex. Sex when Charlotte was angry, sex when Charlotte was sad, sex when Charlotte was lonely, sex when Charlotte was horny, sex when Charlotte was bored. There was no romance; you could barely say any part of their relationship was even platonic. And they had never risked going out in public before.

“Dinner, Ted? I’m a married woman, remember?” Charlotte reminded him. “I do not go out on dates with men that are not my husband.” Funny how that’s where she drew the line, Ted thought.

“Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-no, see I was thinking of going to that shitty diner across from that fancy Italian place on 45. Not a date. Not a big deal,” Ted reassured her nonchalantly.

“Oh… well, I suppose that would be alright. We do have some leftovers in the fridge Sam can heat up when he gets home. But just dinner—”

Ted stopped her before she could lay down any more rules, “Great! I’ll stop by when I’m done for the day.”

And with that, he was gone, grabbing his mug from her desk and throwing up a peace sign as he walked away.

Not a date. Ted wasn’t sure who he had directed that thought to, but it persisted in his mind as he walked away.

The rest of the work day wrapped up soon enough, and their coworkers began taking off. It was only a matter of time before Ted strolled back over to Charlotte’s desk, bag strung over his shoulder.

“Ready?” He asked, glancing at his watch, his put-on air of indifference betrayed by a small bounce in his step.

They were off a few moments later once Charlotte gathered her stuff. Ted led her to his car as Charlotte silently thanked the parking lot for being fairly empty of others. She did not want to attract attention to the fact that she was getting into a car with Ted Richards, the office flirt, who was known to have slept with at least half of the employees at CCRP beginning day one of his employment. Okay, yeah, whatever that would suggest was totally happening, but she still didn’t need it getting around the office.

The drive was uneventful. Charlotte sat stiffly in the passenger seat as Ted drove, her eyes glossed over, staring out the window, and worrying her lip between her teeth, still thinking about Sam. Ted silently acknowledged this but didn’t say anything about it. Instead he talked the entire drive, just rambling on about anything and everything apart from that, starting with those two idiots from the kitchen earlier in the day. Who gives a fuck about Schrödinger’s Cat anyways? You’re not in AP Psych anymore, you’re not tricking anyone into thinking you’re smart. They all ended up at CCRP anyhow, so no one gives a shit.

After a while his ranting died down, and they pulled into another parking lot.

“Alright, we’re here.”

Charlotte shook herself from her inattentive state and glanced up at the building they were parked in front of. ‘Annie’s Diner’, the sign read. She couldn’t recall ever eating there before, but she recognized the name. Still in a bit of a daze, she got out of the car and walked towards the entrance with Ted.

Ted opened the door, letting Charlotte go first (who says he can’t be a gentleman from time to time?), and an easy smile slid onto his face as he followed her into the diner.

He led them to a seemingly specific table inside, and the pair slid into the booth, Charlotte’s attention still clearly elsewhere. She tried to look at her menu, but all she could think about was Sam. Sam cancelling on her. Sam never being there. Sam being with that… girl. Leaving her alone. No, not alone. She’s with Ted right now. Who she has slept with. Multiple times. Who she’s cheating on Sam with. Just as Sam’s doing with Her. How can she feel hurt? What was she doing? What makes her husband’s affair worse than her’s? What kind of wife was she?

“All right,” Ted said, grabbing the menu from her hands, shaking her back to reality. “That’s enough. You’re thinking too much.” Placing the menu back behind the condiments with the others, he took Charlotte’s hands in his own. “Look, we’re here to forget about him, and you’re obviously not doing a very good job at that.”

Charlotte eyes met Ted’s, and she smiled sadly as a sort of apology.

He tapped his hands over hers a few times. “Today, we focus on having a good time, we focus on eating greasy food, and we focus on not overthinking things. All right?” Ted declared, releasing her hands in favor of returning her menu.

At that moment a lovely-looking, older woman appeared next to their booth.

“Why, hello there again, Ted. How are you doing this fine evening?” she asked, obviously familiar with the man.

“Doin’ all right, Miss Julie. About to be even better now that I’m at the best diner in the country,” he schmoozed, grinning playfully up at her.

She smacked him lightly with her notepad, “Oh, Teddy, you really are a flirt. What’re you doing talking like that in front of your friend here?” She playfully scolded him and turned her attention to Charlotte, “How you doing, sweetie? My name’s Julie, and I’ll be serving you today.” She offered a sweet smile, and Charlotte couldn’t help but smile back, no matter how absent her mind was. That kind of pure joy and loveliness was powerful. Charlotte yearned for the time in her life when she was that much of a source of joy.

Alongside some playful banter with Ted, Julie took their drink orders (Charlotte asked for just water at first, but after a raised eyebrow from Ted the orders became one strawberry milkshake for her and one chocolate milkshake, no whipped cream for him) and left the two alone, a small, genuine smile on her face to see him with someone.

Lord knows Ted needed company, and so did the staff at Annie’s. He was a regular and would come into the diner after work twice a week give or take for about a year or so. He quickly charmed his way to the hearts of the entire staff, but behind his flirtatious and cocky exterior they could see how lonely he was. Going every week after work? Must not have anyone to go home to. The staff easily warmed up to him and enjoyed lollygagging by his booth for some fun banter, and they savored the rare true smiles he afforded them (as opposed to the smirk normally plastered across his face during the work day). He seemed to enjoy it as well; they made his solitary dinners more enjoyable, and at Annie’s he found a sense of family.

As Miss Julie retreated, Charlotte had a playful smile on her face at Ted’s slightly-reddened cheeks.

“I thought you called this a ‘shitty’ diner,” Charlotte laughed, “Seems like you enjoy it more than you’re letting on.”

Ted tried to wave her off. “Looks shitty. Heart, and food, of gold, though.” He buried his face in his menu, as if he didn’t have it memorized by that point.

Charlotte giggled some more as she copied him. The two studied their menus in silence, comfortable in the mood that had settled between them.

Moments later, Julie came back with their shakes in hand. “Alright, well I know Ted’s ready, but how about you, ma’am? Any questions for me or are you good to order?”

Truth be told, Charlotte was torn over what to get. She’d been trying to eat better lately, hoping that by some chance, if she lost a bit of weight, it would help her husband care about her again, so initially she had been looking at the salad options. But Ted did say today was about eating greasy food, and she had to be honest, the burgers on the menu looked absolutely delightful. After a glance at her dinner partner she made her decision. Burger it is!

Julie correctly guessed what Ted was getting on her first try (“Honey Barbecue Chicken Wings and a side of tater tots?” “You got it, honey.”) and left to send their orders to the kitchen. Once again the pair sat in silence as Ted unwrapped his straw and swirled it around his milkshake. After a moment, Charlotte spoke up.

“Ted?”

“Hm?” he grunted in response, still playing with his straw.

“Why’d you bring me here?”

This stopped him. Sensing where she was leading the conversation, Ted built up a wall. He scoffed, “Um, for food? Duh.”

Charlotte shook her head and mimicked his earlier move by holding his hand that had been laying on top of the table. His eyes were immediately drawn to where she touched him tenderly. “This place is clearly special to you. Why me? Why am I the one you’re sharing this with?”

Ted stared at their hands a moment longer before taking a deep breath. He glanced up and looked into Charlotte’s eyes, imploring and curious. He squeezed her hand before letting go and moving both of his hands under the table, out of her reach.

“I’m an asshole. I know that, you know that, everyone knows that. I can’t say I even have work friends unless Paul counts, and even then…” he trailed off, catching himself, and getting back on track. “But, yeah. I guess it’s nice to have a place where I can just kinda live. A sorta… home? That sounds stupid. Somewhere I feel appreciated, I don’t know. And I guess I feel safe sharing this place with you. And I wanted you to see it because… I want you to have a place like this too.”

He kept his gaze purposefully away from Charlotte through his explanation, only locking eyes again when he finished, hesitant to see her reaction. He could never tell when he was crossing a line. Where their relationship stopped and became far too close for Charlotte’s comfort. When it felt real, like something she should get from Sam.

But to his relief she was smiling at him, eyes glossy with tears to see another side of him that he didn’t show much.

“That and the fact that I totally owe Annie’s a gold-star recommendation and a new customer,” Ted continued playfully. “It’s the least I could do for them putting up with me all the time. I bug these people with my presence far too often and my patronage can only get them so far.”

“Now, Ted, I’d hardly say calling this a ‘shitty diner’ is a ‘gold-star recommendation’,” Charlotte teased.

“Hey,” Ted quirked his head to the side and winked, smirking at her from across the booth, “still got you here, didn’t I?”

With the playful mood set, dinner continued easily, both parties much more present than they had been previously. Their food came, they ate, and the pair realized how easy it was for the two of them. Their previously-only-sexual and never-before-platonic relationship was working well in this new setting. They could just live and eat greasy food and be really messy and gross and it was fine, preferred even.

As their meal came to a close, Julie brought over coffee for the pair.

They had had a good time. Ted was beginning to think his earlier statement of not having any work friends may be marked untrue after this evening. He glanced over at Charlotte, busy fixing her coffee to her taste. He watched, and an amused grin slid over his face as she poured an obscene amount of sugar into her mug. God, she’s adorable, Ted thought.

Charlotte felt his attention and glanced up, cheeks reddening, embarrassed by her unhealthy coffee preference (although Ted was one to talk if you asked her).

Their eyes met, and Ted was struck speechless. A shy laugh graced Charlotte’s lips as they looked at each other, and Ted nearly swooned.

If they had been in any other situation he would have reacted differently. If they had been in private, Ted would have kissed her then and there, able to cover up his feelings with his libido. If she had not been married, he would have been professing his love on bended knee for the entire world to hear, because, God, she was beautiful and sweet and charming and witty, and fucking Sam didn’t deserve her. He would say those three words, and she would say them back, and their love would be so great even his cynicism couldn’t deny it.

But that was not the case. Even if he did bite the bullet and tell her his feelings, there was no way she would respond likewise. She was married. No matter how she felt. No matter how shitty Sam was to her. No matter how much he wanted to hear it. No matter how much she wanted to say it. She wouldn’t. She’d never leave him.

Instead he caught sight of his balled-up straw wrapper centimeters from his hand and flicked it at her. It bounced off her sweater and into the abyss under the table.

“Wha? Ted!” Charlotte gasped, putting aside the sugar in favor of the wrapper next to her mug.

She only took a second to crumple it up before throwing it at him, which resulted in the wrapper barely flying, missing Ted completely, and falling onto the table in front of him.

Ted laughed at her failed attempt at retaliation. The pair smiled at each other, and the playful dynamic returned.

Ted decided he could live. He didn’t need to hear her confess her love to him. He didn’t need reality to slap him in the face. He could live in blissful ignorance about their relationship. They didn’t need a label. They didn’t need to communicate their feelings. Ted wasn’t sure he would be able to handle that. So he decided to keep it simple. He could believe whatever he wanted about their relationship for as long as he wanted, and he’d be fine as long as he didn’t ask for clarification. He didn’t want to know the truth.

[walkerismychoice]

No One’s Fault

Book: The Elementalists

Pairing: Beckett X MC (Zoe Flynn)

Raiting: PG-13 with some Mature/Suggestive language at the end

A/N: This fic re-tells Chapter 11 through Beckett’s eyes. All dialogue is copied from the chapter. As per the chapter, Beckett is talking to Atlas in the beginning, but she is named as Zoe due to it being Beckett’s point of view and not knowing otherwise.

Word Count: 2934

Tag List: @tabithacarlisle @ritachacha @thatspicegirlssong @darley1101 @flyawayboo@confessionsofabrokegirl@flowerpowell @itsstillnotwhatyouthink@jimmypagesandbrianmayshair@tmarie82 @choiceswreckedme @enmchoices @regina-and-happiness @christopher-powell @blackcatkita@debramcg1106 @lizeboredom @boneandfur 

“Well, that’s it. Zoe’s not anywhere on campus... That mirror must have taken her somewhere else entirely,” Shreya says with a look of defeat on her face.

“The way the glass shattered, I’ve never seen anything like it... “ Beckett racks his brain, searching for some sort of clue. He is trying, and failing miserably to not let his feelings about Zoe get in the way, but he's worried sick, and it is affecting his ability to think rationally. 

They walk back into Zoe and Shreya’s suite, hoping to sit down and come up with a plan to find answers, but as they walk in she’s there. He’s so relieved to see her, but still something seems off. 

Shreya’s jaw drops. “Zoe?! Where have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere!

Zoe freezes, momentarily speechless. “Y-Yes, I am Zoe. Your friend.” An awkward smile crosses her face.

“What happened to your hair?” Zeph asks in disbelief. Her hair is shorter now and white. Nothing like the flowing brown waves Beckett ran his fingers through not long before. 

“Uh, ha! That’s so funny... you. That’s just like..you. Always cracking jokes,” Zoe replies almost nervously, and it’s so unlike her. Beckett could see this type of behavior coming from himself, being socially awkward and afraid of saying the wrong thing, but not Zoe. Zoe always seems so confident and self-assured. 

Zeph chuckles. “Well she recognizes my comedic genius, so she must be alright.” 

Beckett stops himself from rolling his eyes at Zeph. If he didn’t like the others, especially Zoe, so much, he wouldn’t hang around to hear more cutting remarks from Zeph. “Never mind all that. Where have you been? The mirror room was completely destroyed and you were just gone!”

“Yeah, where did that mirror take you?” Shreya questions. “We looked all over campus!”

“It... It took me to Penn Square. I don’t know what went wrong, but it dropped me right into a dumpster. I tried the spell to clean off, but something went wrong and it turned my hair all white. Guess I’ll have to have Swan fix it tomorrow.”

Okay, that seems plausible, Beckett thinks, and he knows it’s an easy fix. “Oh, no need. That’s just a simple transmutation spell. I can quite easily--

“You touch my hair, my hair, and I’ll punch the eyebrows off of your face,” Zoe snarls and the room is stunned into silence. Beckett knows he wasn’t initially warm and friendly with her, but he’s opened up to her more now than anyone else here. They’ve kissed, more than once, and she seemed really into him. Either he totally misread the situation, or something happened to her when she went through that mirror. 

Zoe's faces softens slightly. “Sorry, I’ve had a really rough day. I’d like to just go to bed.”

Shreya frowns. “Oh. Well, of course. We’re just..glad your’e safe. I guess we should all go to bed, hm?”

“Thanks. All of you.” Zoe’s voice is somber and somewhat hollow, and Beckett just can’t shake the pit in his stomach. 

Everyone starts to leave, but Beckett turns back. He looks her over, and he’s certain she doesn’t fail to notice the concern on his face. He places a hand on her shoulder and she goes stiff. “You..." He wants to wrap her in his arms - for her to melt into his touch - and to tell her how happy he is that she’s back, but something stops him. “You have no idea how troublesome you are!” His tone comes out harsher than he means it to.

“Hey!” Zoe snaps back, and he doesn't completely fault her for it.

"Just going and disappearing like that! Worrying all your friends! It was completely thoughtless of you and...and" He relaxes his shoulders and exhales deeply. "And I'm really glad you're okay." He wants to say more, but coming from him she should know what this admission means. He pulls her in for a hug and she doesn't sink into him like he'd hoped, but he reasons she's been through quite the trauma, and he would probably be just as on edge himself.

"Thanks." Is all she says before he releases her an short time later. Beckett wants to talk more and make sure she's really okay. He opens his mouth to ask, but then thinks better of it and stalks away, still with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Beckett gets halfway down the hallway before he realizes he can't leave Zoe like this. He turns back knocks on the door to the suite's common room but nobody hears him. He bangs harder to ensure the sound will carry. Thankfully it's Zoe, and, not Shreya who answers the door.

"Beckett?"

"Hello. Hi. It's...me again." Idiot obviously she knows it's you.

"I can see that." Zoe replies coolly, but there's a hint of a smile on her face.

She's already seems much warmer and at ease than she was just a minute ago, and it finally dawns on him that her hair is back to its normal color and length. "You fixed your hair."

"Yeah...it just...turned itself back?" He's not quite sure if she's telling him or asking him. Either way, with the change back to her typical appearance, her spirit seems to have returned as well.

Zoe looks him up and down, and he fidgets with his hands in his pockets, suddenly self-conscious of his rumpled appearance. "I'm... I just wanted to make sure you were okay, I..." He decides their's no sense in holding back and trying to play strong anymore. "I'm at a loss here. When you vanished, I felt like I should have been able to do more, and I couldn't, and I-" He shakily runs a hand through his hair, letting the full weight of his worry hit him for the first time.

"Beckett, it's no ones fault." Zoe tries to reassure him. "And I'm fine, see?"

He let's out a weak laugh, trying to convince himself just as much as Zoe that he knows everything is fine now, but he doubts it is convincing. "I know it's late, but...do you want to talk? Just for a little while. I know you said you're okay, but I feel like I have to make sure."

Zoe sighs. "Now really isn't the best time."

Disappointed, Beckett is about to give up and go back to his room when he notices the cuts and scrapes all over Zoe's exposed skin. "You're hurt. I can help with that! I know a spell that'll remove the shards of glass quite painlessly." He's desperate to do something to help, as well as to find any reason to spend more time with her.

"It's fine," she tries to play it off like it's less painful than he fears it is. "I'll just go to the nurse tomorrow.

"But...I can help you." He pleads. "I have to help. Please, Zoe." He can't forgive himself for failing to protect her in the first place and will do any to make up for it.

"Sure, I could use the help. Let's talk out here, okay?"

He's relieved when she agrees and tries not to be disappointed that she didn't invite him into her room. She's hurt and probably shaken up, so he tells himself it would be selfish to expect anything from her, yet he still can’t seem to turn off his attraction to her any time she comes in close proximity.

Beckett follows her to the couch and sits down. Acutely aware of his disheveled appearance, he attempt to smooth out his blazer and laughs at how pitiful he must look. “I must look like a complete mess. Bet it’s pretty funny seeing always-put-together Beckett Harrington off his game."

"Beckett, you look just fine. Maybe a little sadder than normal. A little more rumpled. But I wouldn't say you are falling apart or anything," Zoe assures him. Not cute, hot, or any of the other compliments she normally gives that make him blush, just fine and not falling apart. It's better than her saying he looks awful he supposes, but maybe she's just being nice. "And it's anything but funny to me," she continues. "More... depressing than anything really."

"Gee, thanks," he quips. So he looks rumpled and sad and it's making her depressed. Not quite the effect he'd hoped his presence would have on her.

"Sorry. I just mean... it's hard seeing you so upset!" She reaches over and takes his had in hers.

Beckett looks up to meet her gaze, and it stirs something inside him, causing him to look away sheepishly. He doesn't know if he'll ever get over the way she looks at him.

I'm actually really surprised that you were so concerned considering how much you tried to hate me," she says with a smirk.

He knows she must be teasing after all the conversations they've had since, but he feels the need to reassure her anyhow. "I don't hate you, Zoe." He finds the courage to meet her gaze directly without backing down and squeezes her hand tightly. "I admit that when I first heard about you I was jealous. More so when I realized your formal training was quite lacking. And I lashed out. I worked so hard to be the best and it didn't matter. I thought with you attending, I'd have no chance of being top of the class."

Zoe' smile falters. "Beckett, I never meant to make you feel that way."

Again he's trying to cheer her up, and he fears he's only making things worse. "Of course you didn't... You were my first friend here. You took me in when no one else would. And the thought of something happening to you when I could have stopped it..."

"What do you mean you could have stopped it?" Zoe interjects.

Maybe he's said too much. "I...I've been practicing some advanced magicks. There had to have been some spell, some part of my knowledge that I could have used. But when it comes down to it, I just stood there, weak." He balls his fist and feels heat rise in his face, angry with himself for not rising to the occasion when it counted the most.

"Beckett..." He can see his own torment reflected on her face before she closes the distance between them and hugs his shoulders tightly. He shivers beneath her touch, his face nestled into the crook of her neck. "There's nothing wrong with freezing up. It all happened so fast. You would have needed the quickest reflexes on earth."

Beckett's heart flutters in his chest as he snakes an arm around Zoe's waist, holding her close, inhaling the smell of her floral shampoo before looking back up at her. "How do you know I don't have them? I am vastly superior to the majority of the world's population." He tries to keep a straight face until she laughs and then he cracks too.

"Aaaand, there's the Beckett Harrington I know." Zoe pulls back to look in his eyes and he wonders if she notices that he's teared up. "You can't blame this all on yourself," she tells him, indicating he's not hiding anything from her. "First of all, there's no way you could have known what would happen. And second of all, we were all there. No one else had any idea what to do either.

Beckett frowns and sighs. No one else studies as hard as he does. No one else is in love with her like he is. He thinks these things but doesn't dare say them. "Still. I said I'd help, so at least let me take a look at you."

Zoe spins around in a circle to humor him. "See? Totally fine." Beckett gently lifts her arm and plucks a piece of glass from the skin near her elbow. Zoe's eyes go wide. "Wow, I didn't even realize that was there."

"Probably because of the adrenaline," he explains. "It looks as though that's the worst of it, thank goodness." He holds his hand up and it begins to glow a metallic tint, but he's frustrated as it fades away. "Shoot, just give me a second." The glow in his hand flickers intensely, but still nothing happens. "Come on Beckett you worthless-"

"Beckett!" Zoe scolds.

"I'm sorry. I've...I've done this spell a million times. I just cant... it won't." He averts her gaze, his hands balling up against his knees, and he's feeling nothing but weak and useless, unable to help Zoe in any way.

"It's okay. Don't be so hard on yourself. You can do this. I know you can. Just think about me. You want to help me, right? So stop thinking about your own faults, and focus on that.”

Shit. He's been so worried about needing to be the hero, he's letting his own insecurities get in the way of helping Zoe. "I didn't mean to make it all about me, I-"

"You're doing it again," Zoe points out. He cracks a smile and shakes his head but says no more "There you go, you're starting to relax. Take a deep breath," she instructs.

"Fine, fine." He raises his hands again, and they tremble with nerves. He inhales deeply and let's it out, his palms glowing warmly. "Now we're getting somewhere." He passes his hands over her arms and takes satisfaction as the pieces of glass slip out, Zoe not showing the slightest hint of pain. "There. You'll have to go to the nurse to get a salve for the cuts, but that takes care of the glass at least."

Zoe smiles. "Thanks, Doc. So I'm good as new?"

"I don't know, maybe I should double check to make sure," he suggests half serious, and half just looking for an excuse to get close to her, his success giving him a newfound confidence. He inspects her arms up and down, lightly tracing her veins as goosebumps form beneath his touch. "Hmm, no serious damage there." Seeing the way his touch affects her, he grows bolder. He circles around and leans his head in close, Zoe twitching as his breath tickles the hair at the base of her neck. He trails a finger slowly down her spine.

"Beckett..." She breathes.

"What? Does it hurt?" He wonders if he's found a sore spot or if it's maybe something else.

"N- No..." she stammers and he knows he's got her where he wants her now.

"Look, there's a little bruise right..here." He grazes his lips on the side of her neck to kiss it and make it better. He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her tight to him. He swears her knees wobble, and had he not been holding her, she’d be falling straight too the floor. If only they were in the privacy of Zoe's room. "Better?" He asks with a sly grin.

"I'm certainly not complaining." She turns around, and his satisfied smirk transforms into a genuine smile, relieved to have Zoe safe and happy in his arms. "What about you though? Feeling better?"

Her words are a reminder of all the ways he failed her tonight, and he keeps the smile painted on his face despite his disappointment in himself. "Yeah, yeah, I think so." He tries to remind himself that all is good now. He glances over to the clock on the mantel and his eyes go wide. "Oh, wow. It's so late. I'm such a dolt. You must be exhausted, and here I am complaining about my feelings."

It's fine, really. After everything that's happened today, I'm not sure I would have been able to fall asleep anyway. But if you want to make it up to me, why don't you give me a goodnight kiss?" Zoe asks coyly. "It will help me sleep better."

"I don't need a reason to kiss you, Zoe." The truth is he'd kiss her anytime, anywhere, so long as she asked. His smiles down at Zoe, his thumb grazing her cheek before he leans in to press his lips to hers. He hugs her tightly to his chest, never wishing to risk letting her out of his grasp again for fear she'll disappear.

"Zoe..." he whimpers before tracing his tongue along her lower lip. She responds to his nonverbal request, parting her lips to grant him access to her sweet mouth. He waits until he's completely out of breath to break the kiss.

Zoe laughs as they both gasp for air. "Great, now I'll never get to sleep."

"I'm sure after the day you've had, you'll have no trouble," he says and is thankful for not blurting out his true thoughts - that he's imagining she'll slip into bed and touch herself while she's thinking of him. He's also grateful that his cheeks are already flushed with arousal, for he'd certainly be blushing otherwise at the idea of it and knowing he'll be doing the same back in his room while thinking of her.

Beckett cups her cheeks, eyes lingering on her face until he presses a kiss to her forehead and finally, reluctantly lets her go. Seconds pass and neither one makes a move, the only sound the crackling fireplace. "I'll let you get your rest, but... I want to tell you that.." He hesitates, feeling vulnerable about letting the true depth of his feelings be known. "I'm just... I'm really happy you're still here."

Her soft expression mirrors his own. "Yeah, me too." And with that Beckett takes his leave, relieved and content that she feels the same.